Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 14 pp 5246—5257

Immune system development and age-dependent maintenance in Klotho-hypomorphic mice

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Figure 3. C57BL/6 and B6-kl/kl mice have similar thymocyte and thymic epithelial cell (TEC) populations. (A) Total thymocytes in C57BL/6 and B6-kl/kl at 4-19 weeks (C57BL/6 n=30 and B6-kl/kl n=22) of age or 20+ weeks (C57BL/6 n=25 and B6-kl/kl n=27) from pooled male and female mice. (B) Representative flow cytometry plot of thymocyte populations and (C) frequency of developing thymocyte populations based on CD4 and CD8 expression. C57BL/6 n=30, 4-19 weeks; n=25, 20+ weeks. B6-kl/kl n=19, 4-19 weeks; n=15, 20+ weeks. (D) Representative flow cytometry plots of cortical TEC (cTEC; CD45.2-EpCAM+Ly51+) and medullary TEC (mTEC; CD45.2-EpCAM+UEA-1+). (E) Total thymic epithelial cells (TECs) in C57BL/6 and B6-kl/kl at 4-19 weeks (C57BL/6 n=30 and B6-kl/kl n=22) of age or 20+ weeks (C57BL/6 n=25 and B6-kl/kl n=27) from pooled male and female mice. (F) Frequency of cTEC and mTEC of CD45.2-EpCAM+ cells. C57BL/6 n=27, 4-19 weeks; n=25, 20+ weeks. B6-kl/kl n=16, 4-19 weeks; n=15, 20+ weeks Statistical significance determined by 2way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test: * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, and **** p ≤ 0.0001. (G) Frequency of hi and lo mTEC. C57BL/6 n=27, 4-19 weeks; n=25, 20+ weeks. B6-kl/kl n=16, 4-19 weeks; n=15, 20+ weeks.