Fig. 6: Tuft cells, ionocytes, ciliated cells, and myelin-expressing cells are present in the human thymic medulla. | Nature Communications

Fig. 6: Tuft cells, ionocytes, ciliated cells, and myelin-expressing cells are present in the human thymic medulla.

From: Single-cell transcriptional profiling of human thymic stroma uncovers novel cellular heterogeneity in the thymic medulla

Fig. 6

a UMAP visualization of mTECs, neuroendocrine, myoid, and myelin-expressing cells sub-clustering. b UMAP visualization of the expression of marker genes used for cell cluster identification. c Immunofluorescence analysis of human fetal and postnatal thymus confirming the presence of ionocytes positive for KRT8 (red) and CFTR (green) or TRPM2 (green) and CFTR (red) in the medulla. Scale bars, 20 μm. d Immunohistochemistry staining for ionocytes (CFTR), neuroendocrine cells (SYNAPTO), and myoid cells (DESMIN). Scale bars, 100 μm. e Immunofluorescence analysis showing co-staining of desmin-expressing myoid cells (green) with a wide spectrum cytokeratin antibody (red) in human fetal thymus. Scale bar, 25 μm. f UMAP visualization of SOX2 expression in medullary epithelial cells. g, h Immunofluorescence staining for SOX2 in postnatal and adult thymus confirms expression of this transcription factor in the medulla. A subset of SOX2+ cells (green) co-expressed KRT8 (red) (g) or KRT5 (red) and/or KRT10 (blue) (h). Scale bars, 20 μm. Staining in c, d, e, g, h was repeated at least twice with similar results.

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