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Lymphoid organ development in Xenopus thymectomized at eight days of age
Author(s) -
Horton John D.,
Manning Margaret J.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1051430403
Subject(s) - biology , white pulp , thymectomy , lymphatic system , xenopus , red pulp , spleen , anatomy , histology , andrology , immunology , genetics , medicine , myasthenia gravis , gene
Abstract This paper examines the effect of early thymectomy on the subsequent development of lymphoid tissues in the toad, Xenopus laevis . At the time of thymic removal (8 days post‐fertilization) all the lymphoid organ anlagen are at a rudimentary state of differentiation and contain few, if any, small lymphocytes. Despite the absence of any thymic tissue all thymectomized animals grew normally. Thymectomized larvae developed relatively normal lymphoid organs. However, lymphoid depletion was apparent in the splenic red pulp and in the pharyngeal ventral cavity bodies. Examination of the lymphoid organs of post‐metamorphic Xenopus revealed reduction in spleen size following thymectomy. Lymphoid depletion was evident in the splenic red pulp of many thymectomized toadlets and reduction in proportion of white to red pulp was also noted in a few of these animals. Absence of the thymus had no apparent effect on the histology of the other lymphoid organs examined.