Hypertrophy of the thymus and restoration of immune functions in mice and rats by gonadectomy

Mech Ageing Dev. 1989 Mar;47(3):175-85. doi: 10.1016/0047-6374(89)90030-4.

Abstract

Hypertrophy of the thymus was observed in aging C57BL/6 mice, ranging in age from 4 to 20 months, which had been gonadectomized 2 months before the sacrifice, and the magnitude of thymic regeneration was more pronounced in male than in female. However, enhancement of anti-SRBC antibody response was observed only in female, but not in male mice regardless of age. Gonadectomy brought about not only thymic hypertrophy but also an increase in T cells and B cells in the spleen. An increase in T cell subpopulations was proportional in female mice, but disproportional in male. The disproportional increase of T cell subpopulations could account for the failure to enhance the anti-SRBC antibody response in male mice. Gonadectomy also resulted in the thymic hypertrophy in male and female young Wistar rats, but not in those which had been previously hypophysectomized.

MeSH terms

  • Aging / physiology
  • Animals
  • Antibody Formation*
  • Castration
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Hypertrophy
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Ovariectomy
  • Ovary / physiology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Inbred Strains
  • Sex Factors
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Testis / physiology*
  • Thymus Gland / pathology*