Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1966 Jan;1(1):61–76.

Regeneration of thymus grafts. II. Effects on immunological capacity

J F A P Miller, P M De Burgh, P Dukor, Gwendoline Grant, Violet Allman, Winifred House
PMCID: PMC1579166  PMID: 5330737

Abstract

Mice thymectomized at birth were grafted at 1 week of age with thymus tissue under the kidney capsule. The implants were excised after a period of 1, 2 or 3 weeks and the response of the mice to sheep erythrocytes and to allogeneic skin grafts was tested. Thymectomized mice that had not received thymus implants had twenty times less antibody-plaque-forming cells per million spleen cells than sham-thymectomized controls and failed to reject foreign skin. Some evidence of restoration of immune capacities was obtained in mice bearing for 1 to 2 weeks either normal thymus implants or thymus tissue irradiated in vitro with 500 R. By contrast, thymus tissue irradiated with 2000 R failed to influence neonatally thymectomized mice with respect to their immunological capacities. Most thymectomized mice bearing thymus implants, whether normal, irradiated with 500 or 2000 R, had blood lymphocyte levels within the normal range. Cytological analysis of the lymph nodes and spleen of mice bearing normal thymus implants revealed only very few thymus-derived cells but the proportion of these cells was significantly increased after specific immunization. No thymus-derived cells were however detected in the lymphoid tissues of mice bearing irradiated thymus implants, not even in those that were capable of responding to antigenic stimuli. It is concluded that the thymus plays an essential role in inducing the differentiation of immunologically competent cells from non-competent precursors and that this function is dependent on the integrity of the thymus epithelial-reticular cells.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

71Figs. 6 and 7
on p.71

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. CROSS A. M., DAVIES A. J., DOE B., LEUCHARS E. TIME OF ACTION OF THE THYMUS. Nature. 1964 Sep 19;203:1239–1241. doi: 10.1038/2031239a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. DALMASSO A. P., MARTINEZ C., SJODIN K., GOOD R. A. STUDIES ON THE ROLE OF THE THYMUS IN IMMUNOBIOLOGY; RECONSTITUTION OF IMMUNOLOGIC CAPACITY IN MICE THYMECTOMIZED AT BIRTH. J Exp Med. 1963 Dec 1;118:1089–1109. doi: 10.1084/jem.118.6.1089. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dukor P., Miller J. F., House W., Allman V. Regeneration of thymus grafts. I. Histological and cytological aspects. Transplantation. 1965 Sep;3(5):639–668. doi: 10.1097/00007890-196509000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. FRIEDMAN H. ABSENCE OF ANTIBODY PLAQUE FORMING CELLS IN SPLEENS OF THYMECTOMIZED MICE IMMUNIZED WITH SHEEP ERYTHROCYTES. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1965 Apr;118:1176–1180. doi: 10.3181/00379727-118-30073. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. GLOBERSON A., FELDMAN M. ROLE OF THE THYMUS IN RESTORATION OF IMMUNE REACTIVITY AND LYMPHOID REGENERATION IN IRRADIATED MICE. Transplantation. 1964 Mar;2:212–227. doi: 10.1097/00007890-196403000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. LAW L. W., TRAININ N., LEVEY R. H., BARTH W. F. HUMORAL THYMIC FACTOR IN MICE: FURTHER EVIDENCE. Science. 1964 Mar 6;143(3610):1049–1051. doi: 10.1126/science.143.3610.1049. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. LEUCHARS E., CROSS A. M., DAVIES A. J., WALLIS V. J. A CELLULAR COMPONENT OF THYMIC FUNCTION. Nature. 1964 Sep 12;203:1189–1189. doi: 10.1038/2031189a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. LEUCHARS E., CROSS A. M., DUKOR P. THE RESTORATION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL FUNCTION BY THYMUS GRAFTING IN THYMECTOMIZED IRRADIATED MICE. Transplantation. 1965 Jan;3:28–38. doi: 10.1097/00007890-196501000-00004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. MILLER J. F., LEUCHARS E., CROSS A. M., DUKOR P. IMMUNOLOGIC ROLE OF THE THYMUS IN RADIATION CHIMERAS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1964 Nov 30;120:205–217. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1964.tb34718.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. MILLER J. F. Studies on mouse leukaemia. The role of the thymus in leukaemogenesis by cell-free leukaemic filtrates. Br J Cancer. 1960 Mar;14:93–98. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1960.11. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. MILLER J. F. THE THYMUS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMMUNOLOGIC RESPONSIVENESS. Science. 1964 Jun 26;144(3626):1544–1551. doi: 10.1126/science.144.3626.1544. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. MILLER J. F. THE THYMUS AND TRANSPLANTATION IMMUNITY. Br Med Bull. 1965 May;21:111–117. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a070377. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. OSOBA D., MILLER J. F. EVIDENCE FOR A HUMORAL THYMUS FACTOR RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MATURATION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL FACULTY. Nature. 1963 Aug 17;199:653–654. doi: 10.1038/199653a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. OSOBA D., MILLER J. F. THE LYMPHOD TISSUES AND IMMUNE RESPONSES OF NEONATALLY THYMECTOMIZED MICE BEARING THYMUS TISSUE IN MILLIPORE DIFFUSION CHAMBERS. J Exp Med. 1964 Jan 1;119:177–194. doi: 10.1084/jem.119.1.177. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Osoba D. The effects of thymus and other lymphoid organs enclosed in millipore diffusion chambers on neonatally thymectomized mice. J Exp Med. 1965 Sep 1;122(3):633–650. doi: 10.1084/jem.122.3.633. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. STUTMAN O., ZINGALE S. B. IMMUNOLOGICAL REACTIVITY OF THYMIC AUTOGRAFTS IN THE RAT. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1964 Nov;117:389–393. doi: 10.3181/00379727-117-29589. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. TROWELL O. A., CORP M. J., LUSH W. R. Paradoxical resistance of thymus lymphocytes to high doses of x-radiation. Radiat Res. 1957 Aug;7(2):120–128. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. TROWELL O. A. Radiosensitivity of the cortical and medullary lymphocytes in the thymus. Int J Radiat Biol Relat Stud Phys Chem Med. 1961 Nov;4:163–173. doi: 10.1080/09553006114551091. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES