Functional and Phenotypical Analysis of Subsets of Rat CD4⁺ T Cells

Abstract

Rat CD4⁺ T cells were divided into two distinct subsets by a monoclonal antibody RTH-1 recognizing a unique epitope on rat CD45R. Cellular distribution of OX-22- and RTH-1-defined antigens was the same. However, OX-22 and RTH-1 recognized different epitopes that exist on rat CD45R. The expression of IL-4 gene was detected only in RTH-1^low CD4⁺ T cell subset upon various stimulations. In contrast, the expression of IL-2 and IFN-γ gene varied depending upon the nature of stimuli. The increased cell surface expression of CD44 was detected in RTH-1^high CD4⁺ T cell subset. Conversely the increased expression of CD2 was detected in RTH-1^low CD4⁺ T cell subset. The expression of CD3 and LFA-1 was not significantly different between RTH-1^high and RTH-1^low subsets.