[The intercellular interactions in the interphase death of irradiated thymocytes. A study of the influence of...

The influence of different cells on death and pycnosis of thymocyte nuclei after in vitro irradiation has been investigated. It has been shown that the removal from the thymocyte suspension of cells, having the activity of natural killers, medullar thymocytes, and macrophages, does not influence the radiation-induced damage to cortical thymocytes. The injury of exposed thymocytes decreases, however, after incubation them with nonirradiated thymocytes or cultured cells, the efficiency of the latter being dependent on the type of cells. The data obtained may indicate that the exposed thymocytes interact with each other and exchange some factors that promote their injury.