Fig. 1

Dendritic cell subsets and morphological characteristics in the human thymus. A, other kinds of cells in the thymus were excluded by Lineage cocktail antibodies and pDCs (HLA-DR positive and CD123 positive, in the box) were labeled with HLA-DR and CD123. B, to exclude other types of cells in the thymus, mDCs were labeled with HLA-DR and CD11c (HLA-DR positive CD11c positive, in the box). MDCs could be further divided into CD141 positive DCs and CD1c positive DC by CD1c and CD141. C, in immunohistochemical staining, CD123 was used to mark pDCs (brown, granular). CD11c was used to mark mDCs (brown, dendritic) in the thymus. The two subsets were mainly distributed in the thymus medulla. Images are in 200×, and small images in the bottom left are enlarged to show the appearance of different DC subsets. D, pDCs, and mDCs densities in the thymic medulla and cortex were calculated and compared. ***, P < 0.001