The Effect of Antigen Stimulation on the Migration of Mature T Cells from the Peripheral Lymphoid Tissues to the Thymus

Although the maturation and export of T cells from the thymus has been extensively studied, the movement of cells in the opposite direction has been less well documented. In particular, the question of whether T cells which have been activated by antigen in the periphery are more likely to return to the thymus had been raised but not clearly answered. We examined this issue by activating T cells present in the periphery with their cognate antigen, and assessing migration to the thymus. TCR-transgenic cells from OT-I mice (Thy1.2(+)), which recognise the ovalbumin peptide OVA(257–264) in the context of H-2K(b), were transferred into otherwise unmanipulated Thy1.1(+) C57BL/6 mice. Recipient mice were injected i.v. with 5 μg peptide (SIINFEKL) approximately 24 hours later. The numbers of donor-derived (Thy1.2(+)) cells in the thymus and peripheral lymphoid tissue were determined. The results clearly show increased numbers of transgenic cells in the thymus 3 days after antigenic stimulation. However, since numbers of transgenic cells increased in the spleen and LN in about the same proportion, the data do not support the notion that there is highly increased selective migration of activated T cells to the thymus. Rather, they suggest that a sample of peripheral cells enters the thymus each day, and that the mature immigrants detected in the thymus merely reflect the contents of the peripheral T cell pool.