The effect of early thymectomy on histogenesis of the lymphoid organs in Xenopus laevis

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Abstract
The role of the thymus in the ontogenetic development of the lymphoid system of the clawed toad, Xenopus laevis, was investigated by removing the organ at stage 49 of Nieuwkoop & Faber (1967), a stage when small lymphocytes are present in the thymus but have not yet appeared in the peripheral lymphoid organs. Complete thymectomy, confirmed histologically, was achieved in nine larvae killed at stage 56 and in 23 larvae killed at stage 59. The spleen was smaller in thymectomized larvae than in sham-thymectomized controls in the series killed at stage 56, but the difference was no longer significant at stage 59. In both series, thymectomized larvae showed a fall in the number of extra-follicular lymphocytes and an increase in the reticulo-myeloid elements of the splenic red pulp. The pharyngeal ventral cavity bodies were moderately or severely depleted of lymphocytes. In other areas, histogenesis proceeded normally in the absence of the thymus. In the splenic white pulp, the follicles, which comprised immature cells of the lymphoblast type at the time of thymectomy, developed their normal complement of lymphocytes. All larvae grew and developed at the normal rate.

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