Biggar W D, Stutman O, Good R A
J Exp Med. 1972 Apr 1;135(4):793-807. doi: 10.1084/jem.135.4.793.
The fetal thymus at 13 days of gestation withstands transplantation and develops normally under the renal capsule of a syngenic host. Distinct differences were observed between the fetal thymus grafts and grafts from neonatal or adult thymus donors. The fetal thymus graft did not undergo the rapid and severe necrosis observed when adult thymus was grafted. Furthermore, when thymuses were transplanted into allogenic recipients, rejection was delayed. The fetal thymus was as effective as the adult thymus in restoring syngenic neonatally thymectomized mice and far superior to adult thymus when grafted into allogenic recipients. These observations seem relevant to clinical efforts to restore immunocompetence in patients with congenital absence of the thymus.
妊娠13天的胎儿胸腺能够耐受移植，并在同基因宿主的肾被膜下正常发育。胎儿胸腺移植物与新生儿或成年胸腺供体的移植物之间观察到明显差异。胎儿胸腺移植物不会像成年胸腺移植时那样迅速发生严重坏死。此外，当胸腺移植到异基因受体中时，排斥反应会延迟。胎儿胸腺在恢复同基因新生期胸腺切除小鼠的免疫功能方面与成年胸腺一样有效，而移植到异基因受体中时则远优于成年胸腺。这些观察结果似乎与临床上恢复先天性无胸腺患者免疫能力的努力相关。
