In the converse experiment, WT bone marrow was transplanted into Acalabrutinib research buy irradiated CD39tg mice, limiting CD39 overexpression to the liver parenchyma. Prior to liver transplantation experiments, reconstitution in the thymus, spleen, and liver was assessed. In all three organs reconstitution of CD39tg, but not WT, bone marrow was incomplete, which was particularly striking within the liver (Fig. 1E). Consequently, only WT and CD39tg livers reconstituted with WT bone

marrow were used as donors for further liver transplantation studies. The serum ALT and IL-6 concentrations following prolonged cold ischemia and transplantation were not statistically different between the reconstituted WT and CD39tg donor liver, with 15,215 (±3,894) and 13,505 (±1,167) U/L, respectively, for

ALT (Fig. 1F) and 6,709 (±2,296) and 9,725 (±4,020) selleck compound pg/mL, respectively, for IL-6 (data not shown). These results suggest that overexpression of CD39 on liver parenchyma alone does not confer protection against hepatic IRI and implicates a mechanistic role for resident hepatic lymphocytes in this model. To investigate the poor reconstitution following CD39tg bone marrow transfer, hepatic leukocyte populations in unmanipulated mice were analyzed by flow cytometry. The CD4+ T cell, but not CD8+ T cell, population was significantly decreased in CD39tg livers compared to WT controls (Fig. 2A; Table 1). Analysis of hepatic invariant NKT (iNKT) cells with CD1d-tetramer showed profound deficiencies in CD39tg animals (Fig. 2B; Table 1). As about 80% of iNKT cells express CD4 on their surface,27 the relative numbers of hepatic CD4+ and CD4− iNKT cells among the resident lymphocytes was analyzed. Only CD4-expressing MCE iNKT cells were deficient with 0.03 × 106 (±0.01) CD39tg compared to 0.33 × 106 (±0.05) WT CD4+ iNKT (Fig. 2C,D). Analysis of splenic lymphocyte populations showed similar deficiencies in CD4+ T cell and iNKT cell

numbers (Fig. 2E,F; Table 1). Despite this, the proportion and number of regulatory T cells (Tregs), which also express the CD4 surface marker, were not deficient in the spleens from CD39 transgenic mice (Supporting Fig. 3A,B; Table 1). Splenic B cell and NK cell numbers were unaffected (Table 1). The function of the remaining CD4+ T cells and iNKT cells in CD39tg mice was tested. CFSE-stained splenocytes were cultured for 2 days in the presence of anti-CD3 and anti-CD28. CD39tg CD4+ T cells, but not CD8+ T cells, were hypoproliferative compared to WT cells with 64% (±3) dividing cells versus 85% (±2) (Fig. 3A,B). The function of iNKT cells was determined in vivo 2 hours post stimulation with αGalCer. Both intracellular staining for IFN-γ and IL-4 on liver leukocytes and serum concentration of IL-4 showed unresponsiveness of CD39tg iNKT cells to αGalCer (Fig. 3C,D).