Hypertrophy of the thymus and restoration of immune functions in mice and rats by gonadectomy.
Hypertrophy of the thymus was observed in aging C57BL/6 mice, ranging in age from 4 to 20 months, which had been gonadectomized 2 months before the sacrifice, and the magnitude of thymic regeneration was more pronounced in male than in female. However, enhancement of anti-SRBC antibody response was observed only in female, but not in male mice regardless of age. Gonadectomy brought about not only thymic hypertrophy but also an increase in T cells and B cells in the spleen. An increase in T cell subpopulations was proportional in female mice, but disproportional in male. The disproportional increase of T cell subpopulations could account for the failure to enhance the anti-SRBC antibody response in male mice. Gonadectomy also resulted in the thymic hypertrophy in male and female young Wistar rats, but not in those which had been previously hypophysectomized.
Utsuyama
M
M
Department of Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Japan.
Hirokawa
K
K
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002369:Castration; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006984:Hypertrophy; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010052:Ovariectomy; D010053:Ovary / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012737:Sex Factors; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013737:Testis / Q000502:physiology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000473:pathology*