INFLUENCE OF STRESS STIMULI ON LYMPHATIC TISSUE OF ADRENALECTOMIZED MICE

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Abstract
Time relationship and extent of alterations in lymphatic organ size and circulating lymphocytes were compared in stressed and non-stressed adrenalectomized CBA mice. Stress stimuli were starvation, histamine and anaphylaxis. Animals stressed 2 hrs. after adrenalectomy had a significant lymphocytosis 2 hrs. later, which rose to enormous levels at 8 and 12 hrs. and returned to the level found in adrenalectomized non-stressed animals at 24 hrs. This "lymphocytotic response" is an inverse image of the lymphopenic response of intact animals. After adrenalectomy, lymphatic organs of mice in sublethal anaphylaxis were significantly larger than those of non-stressed animals at comparable time intervals. Lymphocytosis of stress occurred also in splenectomized adrenalectomized mice and, hence, was not due to evacuation of lymphocytes from the splenic reservoir.