Appearance of T cell subpopulations in the chicken and embryo retina.

Under pathological conditions such as autoimmune encephalomyelitis or autoimmune uveoretinitis, many T cells infiltrate the central nervous system (CNS) and retina. Even in normal condition, a small number of T cells are detected in the CNS. However the characteristics of the T cells are not defined. To investigate the T cell characteristics in a healthy retina, the chicken and the embryo were observed by morphological and immunohistochemical methods. In the chicken retina, T cells were regularly detected, and the main subset was CD-8(+)/ gammadelta cells. Developmentally, CD positive cells appeared on embryonic day 13, and the constituent T cell repertoires became the same as in the chicken by embryonic day 17. Many T cell repertoires were detected on embryonic day 15 and 16. The present results confirm that the retina receives an immunological surveillance by T cells. The composition of T cells in retina is constructed after embryonic day 17. Many ganglion cells die in embryonic days 15 and 16. So the T cell subsets in these periods may involve in autoimmune diseases.