DESIGN Deflazacort (DFZ) is a relatively new glucocorticoid that has been reported to exhibit fewer side-effects than other commonly used corticosteroids. The present study was designed to test the effects of DFZ on thymus gland involution (thymolysis), as compared with body growth and the secretory pattern of GH in the rat. Beginning at 38 days of age, male animals were treated for 8 consecuti...

Thymolipoma (or lipothymoma) is a benign tumour of the thymus gland consisting of fat and thymic tissue. The only symptoms it produces, if any, are the results of pressure on surrounding structures. It is not a common tumour. No example was found in the 67 thymic neoplasms studied by Thomson and Thackray (1957). Seventeen isolated reports have been found in the literature (Table I) and one more...

Thymic rudiments from chick and mouse embryos have been cultured in diffusion chambers on the chick chorioallantois. In this situation their supply of blood-borne stem cells is cut off. Although rudiments from older embryos become fully lymphoid under these circumstances, primordia from early embryos fail to develop any lymphoid cells. Early chick rudiments will however develop completely if th...

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular junction disorder caused by pathogenic autoantibodies to some parts of the post-synaptic muscle endplates. About 85% of generalized MG patients have autoantibodies against post-synaptic acetyl-choline receptors (AChR). From the 10-15% of the remaining patients, 45-50% are positive for Muscle Specific Tyrosine Kinase-Antibody (MuSK-Ab). It is believed th...

I N THIS ISSUE, a review is presented by Arnason, Jankovic and Waksman on some of the functions of the thymus gland, bearing particularly upon its relation to lymphocytes and immune reactions. This gland, long known as an obscure collection of lymphoid or paralymphoid cells, has recently jumped into prominence as possibly the “master gland” controlling the immune response. Jacques Miller,’ work...

I N THIS ISSUE, a review is presented by Arnason, Jankovic and Waksman on some of the functions of the thymus gland, bearing particularly upon its relation to lymphocytes and immune reactions. This gland, long known as an obscure collection of lymphoid or paralymphoid cells, has recently jumped into prominence as possibly the “master gland” controlling the immune response. Jacques Miller,’ work...

A challenging topic in undergraduate physiology courses is the complex interaction between the vertebrate endocrine system and the immune system. There are relatively few established and accessible laboratory exercises available to instructors to help their students gain a working understanding of these interactions. The present laboratory module was developed to show students how glucocorticoi...

LTHOUGH the thymus has been proved to play an essential role in the development and maintenance of immune reactivity, the mechanisms by which it exerts these functions are still to be elucidated. While significant titers of antibody”2 or plasma cell accumulation3’4 have not been detected in the intact thymus of animals given antigens at distant site, histologic signs indicative of local antibod...

LTHOUGH the thymus has been proved to play an essential role in the development and maintenance of immune reactivity, the mechanisms by which it exerts these functions are still to be elucidated. While significant titers of antibody”2 or plasma cell accumulation3’4 have not been detected in the intact thymus of animals given antigens at distant site, histologic signs indicative of local antibod...

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, an enzyme which catalyzes the polymerization of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates, elongating oligoor polydeoxynucleotide chains, but without direction from a nucleic acid template, is thought to be specific for thymus gland and thymusderived cells. We have confirmed the observations that high levels are characteristic of thymus gland with both human and c...