Isolation of adult murine thymic stromal cells that naturally express Notch ligands

Myra Small1

  • 1Deparment of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel. msmall@post.tau.ac.il

This communication summarizes the procedures that enabled isolation of adult murine thymic stromal cell lines that naturally express Notch ligands Jagged-1 or Delta-1. Histochemical characterization of these cell lines, in terms of ligand and cell type, revealed epithelial cells that bear an antigen characteristic of the thymic medulla and express either Jagged-1 or Delta-1. FACS sorting of stromal cells that naturally express these and other ligands is thus feasible, and such cells can be used to investigate the activity of each ligand in Notch-mediated commitment to the T-lymphocyte pathway.

Related Concept Videos