Proliferation and apoptosis of thymocytes in response to IL-7.

(A) The incorporation of BrdU was measured in thymocytes in the presence (10 ng/mL) or absence of IL-7 on day 4 of TOC. Upper panel shows representative results from 5 different experiments. Ratio of IL-7 to control is shown in the lower panel. (B) The inhibition effect of IL-7 on apoptosis of thymocytes was evaluated by flow cytometry by the expression of annexin V after 4 days of TOC. Upper panel shows the representative result from 5 different experiments. Lower panel shows the percent inhibition of annexin V expression by IL-7 to control TOC. BCL-2 expression was evaluated in TOC with 1, 10, and 50 ng/mL IL-7. Data are expressed as mean value ± SD in triplicate.