Related Experiment Videos
Stages of the rat thymic medulla development in foetal period
R Brelińska1, D Ostalska, E Kaczmarek
1Department of Histology and Embryology, University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. rbrel@poczta.onet.pl
Abstract:
Development of thymic medulla was examined on consecutive gestational days (GD) in Wistar rats. Medullary thymic epithelial cells (TEC) were identified by immunocytochemical localisation of neuron-specific enolase (NSE). Organisation of thymic medullary architecture was determined by interaction of thymocytes with NSE-positive TEC, that led to formation of lymphoepithelial complexes (GD 19), in which the cells exhibited proliferative activity or traits of apoptosis. The studies indicated that differentiation events and organisation of thymic medulla require stage-specific interactions between TEC and thymocytes.