| First Author | Katayama Y | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 789-800 |
| PubMed ID | 12818160 | Mgi Jnum | J:84041 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:2664646 | Doi | 10.1016/s1074-7613(03)00150-x |
| Citation | Katayama Y, et al. (2003) Galactocerebrosides are required postnatally for stromal-dependent bone marrow lymphopoiesis. Immunity 18(6):789-800 |
| abstractText | Galactocerebrosides (GCs) represent a major class of glycolipids in the nervous system. Here, we show that mice lacking the key enzyme to generate GCs, UDP-galactose:ceramide galactosyltransferase (CGT(-/-)), exhibit severe postnatal atrophy of all lymphoid organs, owing to a maturational arrest before the pro-B/T cell stage. This lineage-specific defect originates from the bone marrow (BM) stroma since it is not transplantable to irradiated wild-type recipients. Remarkably, CGT(-/-) long-term B lymphoid BM cultures displayed severe deficits in the number of CD45(neg)VCAM-1(pos) stromal cells and fibronectin matrix assembly, and produced floating macrophages rather than B lymphocytes. The fibronectin network was also altered in the CGT-deficient BM parenchyma. These results point to an essential role for galactolipids in the formation of fibronectin-enriched lymphoid-specific stromal niches in the BM. |
