Development and peripheral maintenance of CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in K14-β2m mice.

(A) Thymocytes from K14-β2m mice and β2m^+/° littermates were triply stained with anti-CD4, anti-CD8, and anti-TCRβ antibodies. Percentages (mean ± SD, n = 6) of CD4⁻CD8⁻, CD4⁺CD8⁺, CD4⁺CD8⁻TCR^high and CD4⁻CD8⁺TCR^high cells are indicated. Thymi from K14-β2m mice and β2m^+/° littermates contained 127 ± 45 × 10⁶ and 116 ± 25 × 10⁶ cells, respectively. Spleen and lymph node cell suspensions were stained with anti-CD8 and anti-TCRβ antibodies (n = 3). K14-β2m mice and β2m^+/° littermates had 98 ± 26 × 10⁶ and 107 ± 25 × 10⁶ splenocytes and 20 ± 6 × 10⁶ and 28 ± 2 × 10⁶ lymph node cells, respectively. (B) Expression of memory/activation markers by CD8⁺ splenocytes from K14-β2m mice and β2m^+/° littermates. Cells were stained with anti-TCRβ, anti-CD8, and anti-CD44, anti-CD62L or anti-CD69 antibodies. Representative histograms of electronically gated TCRβ⁺CD8⁺ cells are shown.