Aged Human Thymus Hassall's Corpuscles Are Immunoreactive for IGF‐I and IGF‐I Receptor |
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| Authors: | Tsvetana Ts. Marinova Lyubomir D. Spassov Veselin I. Vlassov Vili V. Pashev Maya D. Markova Varban S. Ganev Ralitsa S. Dzhupanova Doychin N. Angelov |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Biology, Medical Genetics and Microbiology, Medical Faculty, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” Bulgaria;2. Fax: (+359 2) 962‐4771;3. Clinic of Surgery and Division of Pathology, University Hospital “Lozenets”, Faculty of Medicine, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” Bulgaria;4. Department of Biology, Medical Faculty, Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria;5. Department of Anatomy I, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany;6. Fax: (+49221) 478‐87893 |
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| Abstract: | Although Hassall's corpuscles have been proposed to act in both maturation of developing thymocytes and removal of apoptotic cells, their function remains an enigma. The involvement of insulin‐like growth factor I (IGF‐I) in the local autocrine and paracrine control of T‐cell development in human thymus is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the structure and distribution of IGF‐I and IGF‐I receptor (IGF‐IR)‐immunopositive Hassall's corpuscles in aged human thymus using bright‐field immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. We report new immunocytochemical data for the presence of IGF‐I/IGF‐IR double‐immunopositive Hassall's corpuscles in structurally preserved regions of age‐involuted thymus and discuss the involvement of these unique thymic components in the local regulation of T‐cell development and thymus plasticity during aging by IGF‐I/IGF‐IR‐mediated cell signaling pathway. Anat Rec., 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | human thymus Hassall's corpuscles IGF‐I IGF‐IR electron microscopy |
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