Thymus and Inflammation

Abstract

SUMMARY The reversal of cortisone action on formaldehyde arthritis reported by Csaba, Törő, Horváth, Ács & Mold (1962) after thymectomy in the rat did not occur using either the cotton pellet, the granuloma pouch or the acute paw-oedema procedures. Thymectomy alone caused a reduction of inflammation in both the cotton pellet and the granuloma pouch methods but had no effect on acute formaldehyde-induced paw-oedema. It is concluded that the thymus is not essential for the anti-inflammatory activity of cortisone.

The effect of neonatal and adult thymectomy on the inflammatory response

“…The reduction in the size of schistosome granulomata by neonatal thymectomy may be at least partly due to a similar mechanism (Doming0 and Warren, 1967). Thymectomy does not appear to affect acute inflammation, and our observations are in accord with most previous work (Jankovic, Waksman and Arnason, 1962;Girerd and di Pasquale;Fisher and Fisher, 1965;Heilmeyer et al).…”

“…By contrast, there was a striking reduction in the weight of the cottonpellet granuloma after thymectomy, and similar results have been reported by other investigators (Heilmeyer, Kasemir and Kerp, 1968). This particular assay of inflammatory activity is, however, affected both by partial and complete thymectomy in our experiments and in those of Heilmeyer et al The reaction is also greatly reduced by thymectomy in adult life, even when inflammation is induced only 3 days later, when there is no detectable immunological deficit (Girerd and di Pasquale, 1963). It would seem therefore that even in adult life an intact thymus is necessary for full expression of some types of chronic inflammation, presumably by a non-immunological mechanism.…”

Thymopoietin and levamisole in chronic granulomatous inflammation

“…We have therefore studied both thymopoietin and levamisole, looking for an antiinflammatory effect in the subcutaneous carrageenan air bleb, thought to be a thymus-independent model of chronic inflammation,"5 and again in the subcutaneous cotton pellet granuloma shown to be thymic-dependent. 16 Thymic dependence may reflect dependence on the presence of thymic hormones themselves, the process of 'programming' T cells which takes place in the thymus, or subsequent control of T cells hormonally by the thymus.…”