Involution of the thymus in tumor-bearing mice and its restoration by PSK.
In Balb/C mice, the size and weight of the thymus and the number of thymus cells were reduced 1 week after the subcutaneous inoculation of Meth A fibrosarcoma. These changes were prevented by the intraperitoneal administration of PSK. In normal mice, the majority of thymus cells are large and the minority are small as demonstrated by analysis with a fluorescence activated cell sorter. In tumor-bearing mice, the number of large cells are decreased and the number of small cells are relatively increased. PSK prevented such a modulation in tumor-bearing mice.
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005354:Fibrosarcoma; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D011509:Proteoglycans; C010770:polysaccharide-K