Effect of late steroid imprinting of the thymus on the hormone binding capacity of thymocytic receptors in adulthood.

Rats treated neonatally or at four weeks of age with dexamethasone on a single occasion showed a considerable decrease in thymic glucocorticoid reception. It appears that hormonal imprinting can take place in the cells of the cytogenic organs not only perinatally, but also later, owing to the undifferentiated (differentiating) state of the forming cells.