Rapid, safe and simple method for grafting whole thymus in the mouse.
A rapid, safe and simple method is presented for obtaining and grafting whole neonatal thymuses in mice. No anesthesia, sutures or incisions are required for implantation. The grafting technique involves no special skills except the ability to inject mice subcutaneously. Thymuses grafted by the method described show normal architecture, survive lethal irradiation and bone marrow reconstitution, repopulate thymic dependent areas of peripheral lymphoid organs and restore normal inflammatory cell responses to thymic deprived mice.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous