Warley A, Morris I W
Division of Anatomy, U.M.D.S. St. Thomas's Hospital Campus, London.
Scanning Microsc. 1988 Dec;2(4):2227-32.
Atrophy of the thymus gland occurs in rats made diabetic by a single injection of the drug streptozotocin. Histological studies show the presence of thymocytes with pyknotic nuclei in thymus tissue taken from diabetic animals. Analysis of the elemental content of the pyknotic cells was carried out on freeze dried frozen sections of thymus tissue using the technique of X-ray microanalysis. There was no loss of elements from cells which had undergone the early morphological changes characteristic of pyknosis and which showed the condensed chromatin of pyknotic nuclei. However as the cells shrank and lost the clear distinction between nucleus and cytoplasm there was a loss of elements, particularly Mg and K from the cells. The changes in distribution of elements in the dying thymocytes suggest a method of cell death which does not involve disruption of the plasma membrane.
单次注射链脲佐菌素使大鼠患糖尿病后，胸腺会出现萎缩。组织学研究表明，从患糖尿病动物提取的胸腺组织中存在核固缩的胸腺细胞。利用X射线微量分析技术，对胸腺组织的冻干冰冻切片进行了核固缩细胞元素含量分析。经历核固缩早期形态变化且显示核固缩细胞核染色质凝聚的细胞，其元素并未丢失。然而，随着细胞萎缩，细胞核与细胞质之间的清晰界限消失，细胞出现了元素丢失，尤其是镁和钾。垂死胸腺细胞中元素分布的变化提示了一种不涉及质膜破裂的细胞死亡方式。
