Thymectomy in preweanling kittens: technique and immunologic consequences.
Thymectomy of 5-week-old kittens was accomplished by left parasternal thoracotomy, ligation of the left internal thoracic artery, and removal of the thymus from the mediastinum by traction and blunt dissection. Thymectomy had no adverse clinical effects, and neither the response of peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytomitogens nor the proportions of circulating lymphocytes  bearing T- or B-cell markers differed substantially between thymectomized cats and nonthymectomized control cats. Skin allograft rejection times of the thymectomized cats (3 weeks after operation) were slightly longer than those of littermate nonthymectomized controls. We conclude that removal of the thymus in preweanling kittens does not have important physiologic or immunologic consequences.
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002415:Cats / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014886:Weaning