[Morphological and functional interrelationships of the thymus and adrenals in inbred mice].

The authors carried out morphological examination of the thymus, adrenal glands and the spleen in CBA, C57BL/6, AKR mice and studied the immunological reactivity of mice to sex antigen of the skin transplant with the determination of the blood plasma corticosterone level. In comparison with C57BL/6 and AKR mice, CBA mice displayed a narrow cortical layer in the thymus, wide thymus-dependent zones in the spleen, a high corticosterone level, and the absence of any reaction to the sex antigen of the skin transplant. Adrenalectomy in CBA mice led to a sharp dilatation of the thymus cortex, the appearance of numerous lymph follicles in the spleen and development of an immunological reaction to sex antigen of the skin transplant. Atrophy of the cortical layer of the adrenal glands witha sharp reduction of subanophilic lipids was noted in CBA B-mice.