1. Vascular thymus transplantation in rats. Technique, morphology, and function
- Author
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Gerda H. Pol, Egbert H. Blaauw, Roel Broekhuizen, Henk Jan Schuurman, Jan Rozing, Paul Nieuwenhuis, Frans J. Tielen, Lennard M. B. Vaessen, Bruce Joseph Roser, Jaap Kampinga, Richard Aspinall, and H. Bartels
- Subjects
Transplantation ,Cellular immunity ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Lymphocyte ,T cell ,T-Lymphocytes ,Cell Count ,T lymphocyte ,Organ Transplantation ,Thymus Gland ,Biology ,Rats ,Ovalbumin ,Rats, Nude ,surgical procedures, operative ,Thymus transplantation ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Immune system ,Immunology ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Animals ,Vascular Surgical Procedures - Abstract
A new method of thymus transplantation is introduced, in which the graft is directly connected with the recipient's vascular system. This procedure was used both in euthymic rats and congenitally athymic nude rats. At all tested intervals after transplantation thymus grafts hardly differed from the recipient's own thymus in immunohistology and lymphocyte yield. In athymic nude rats, T cell-dependent immunity, tested by mitogen- and alloantigen-induced T cell responses, as well as by antibody production and delayed-type hypersensitivity after ovalbumin administration, showed that vascular thymus grafts could generate T cell functions to euthymic control levels. We conclude that the technique of vascular thymus transplantation represents a valuable tool, either in fundamental research on thymus function, or for the purpose of immune (re)constitution.
- Published
- 1990
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