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CONTRASTING ABNORMALITIES IN THE THYMUS IN SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS AND MYASTHENIA GRAVIS: A QUANTITATIVE HISTOLOCICAL STUDY
Author(s) -
Goldstein Gideon,
Mackay Ian R
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1965.71
Subject(s) - myasthenia gravis , germinal center , pathology , medulla , atrophy , medicine , autoimmune disease , immunology , systemic disease , disease , antibody , b cell
Summary The thymus was examined microscopically in two autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (9 cases) and myasthenia gravis (9 cases), and in control patients matched for age (14 cases). A quantitative method was developed for recording and comparing histological abnormalities. When compared with our controls the significant changes in systemic lupus erythematosus included total cortical atrophy, spindle epithelial cell aggregates in the medulla, increased cystic and scanty epithelial Hassall's corpuscles, and increased plasma cells: two of the nine thymuses contained germinal centres. The features in myasthenia gravis included preservation of the cortex and numerous germinal centres in the medulla. Thus the thymic pathology differs markedly in these two presumed autoimmune diseases. Thymic changes in these two diseases could reflect the result of an immuunological attack — humoral or cellular — against a vulnerable target organ—the thymus — or alternatively may indicate that a derangement of the thymus is a primary cause of autoimmune disease.