Isolation and transplantation of different aged murine thymic grafts

The mechanisms that regulate the efficacy of thymic selection remain ill-defined. The method presented here allows in vivo analyses of the development and selection of T cells specific for self and foreign antigens. The approach entails implantation of thymic grafts derived from various aged mice into immunodeficient scid recipients. Over a relatively short period of time the recipients are fully reconstituted with T cells derived from the implanted thymus graft. Only thymocytes seeding the thymus at the time of isolation undergo selection and develop into mature T cells. As such, changes in the nature and specificity of the engrafted T cells as a function of age-dependent thymic events can be assessed. Although technical expertise is required for successful thymic transplantation, this method provides a unique strategy to study in vivo a wide range of pathologies that are due to or a result of aberrant thymic function and/or homeostasis.