The surface phenotype of thymic plasmacytoid cells.

(A) Plasmacytoid cells were released from a thymus tissue sample and light-density cells selected. The enriched preparation was immunofluorescent stained for IL-3Rα (PE) and HLA-DR (Cy5). HLA-DR^lowIL-3Rα^high plasmacytoid cells represented 1.5% to 2% of the preparation. HLA-DR^highIL-3Rα^low cells were composed of DCs and B cells. (B) By means of 4-color immunofluorescence staining, the phenotype of HLA-DR^low(Cy5)IL-3Rα^high(Texas-Red) plasmacytoid cells was analyzed with the use of FITC and PE-labeled antibodies. This analysis is representative of 3 separate thymus samples.