X-ray irradiation selectively kills thymocytes of different stages and impairs the maturation of donor-derived CD4+CD8+ thymocytes in recipient thymus

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the sensitivity of thymocytes to X-ray radiation depends on their proliferative states and whether radiation impairs the maturation of donor-derived thymocytes in recipient thymus. We assigned 8-week-old C57BL/6J mice into three treatment groups: 1) untreated; 2) X-ray radiation; 3) X-ray radiation plus bone marrow transplantation with donor bone marrow cells from transgenic mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) on a universal promoter. After 4 weeks, the size of the thymus, the number and proliferation of thymocytes and ratios of different stage thymocytes were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. The results showed that: 1) CD4+CD8+ thymocytes were more sensitive to X-ray radiation-induced cell death than other thymocytes; 2) the proliferative capacity of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes was higher than that of other thymocytes; 3) the size of the thymus, the number of thymocytes and ratios of thymocytes of different stages in irradiated mice recovered to the normal level of untreated mice by bone marrow transplantation; 4) the ratio of GFP-positive CD4+CD8+ thymocytes increased significantly, whereas the ratio of GFP-positive CD4+ or CD8+ thymocytes decreased significantly. These results indicate that the degree of sensitivity of thymocytes to X-ray radiation depends on their proliferative states and radiation impairs the maturation of donor-derived CD4+CD8+ thymocytes in recipient thymus.