Mouse Anti-Chicken CD8a-FITC

alpha chain of chicken CD8 (Mr 34 kDa)<br>In the chicken, the CD8 molecule is present in two forms: (i) a homodimer of two alpha chains, and (ii) a heterodimer of an alpha chain and a beta chain.1,2 Chicken CD8 is expressed on approximately 80% of thymocytes, 15% of blood mononuclear cells and 50% of spleen cells, but <1% of cells in the bursa and bone marrow.1 While the vast majority of CD8+ cells in the thymus, spleen, and blood of adult chickens express both CD8 alpha - and CD8 beta -chains, a relatively large proportion of the CD8+ TCR- gamma delta cells in the spleens of embryos and young chicks express only the alpha -chain of CD8. Among intestinal epithelial lymphocytes, the major CD8+ T cell populations present in mice are conserved, but there is a population of TCR- gamma delta CD8 alpha beta cells in the chicken that is not found in rodents.3 MAb EP72 recognizes the CD8 alpha chain.