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SUMMARYVarious phospholipases are thought to be associated with the in vitro apoptosis of thymocytes. In the present study, the in vivo phospholipase D (PLD) activity of rat thymus was studied after wholebody X-irradiation or injection of dexamethasone (DEX). Using exogenous [14 C]dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (PC) as the substrate, an elevation of oleate-activated PLD activity was observed during thymic atrophy. The activity increases were sevenfold at 48 hr after 5-Gy irradiation and fourfold at 72 hr after injection of 5 mg/kg DEX. The elevation of PLD activity appeared to parallel extensive thymus shrinkage. An increased level of thymic phosphatidic acid (PA), the presumed physiological product of PLD action on PC, was also detected. By comparing the acyl chains of PA with those of other phospholipids, PA appeared to originate from PC. To assess the role of PLD during thymic atrophy, thymocytes and stromal cells were isolated. Although thymocytes themselves exhibited signi®cant PLD activation, the major elevation in PLD activity (greater than fourfold) was found in isolated stromal cells. PLD was also activated during in vitro phagocytosis of apoptotic thymocytes by the macrophage-like cell line P388D1. This in vitro phagocytosis was signi®cantly inhibited by PLD action blockers, such as 2,3-diphosphoglycerate and 1-butanol. These observations strongly suggest that the alteration of oleate-activated PLD activity is part of an in vivo event in the progression of thymic atrophy, including phagocytic clearance of apoptotic thymocytes.

Lipid analysis shows that the thymic atrophy by X-irradiation was accompanied by a significant change in thymic lipids. This in vivo result opens up new vistas of the role of lipids in apoptosis and phagocytosis during thymic atrophy.