Identification of select lymphocyte homing molecules and vascular addressins in lymphotoxin-alpha deficient mice.

ABSTRACT

The transmigration of lymphocytes across vascular endothelium is a critical step for the localization of lymphocytes to lymph nodes in both naive and immune reactive states. Mice deficient in lymphotoxin-alpha (LT-alpha) lack peripheral and gut associated lymph nodes. Lymphocyte function and homing ability are reported to be normal in these mice yet information regarding cell adhesion molecules and counterpart vascular addressins is lacking. The phenotype of peripheral lymphocytes from LT-alpha deficient mice was investigated by the use of fluorescent activated cell sorting and immunohistochemistry. No difference was detected in the splenocyte and tissue expression of L-selectin, alpha4beta7 or its individual integrin components, mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule (MAdCAM-1), intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), peripheral node addressin (PNAd), or platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1) between wild-type and LT-alpha deficient mice. Therefore, impaired expression of these lymphocyte homing and vascular addressin molecules is apparently not included in the phenotype of the LT-alpha deficient mouse.