[The effect of late thymectomy and thymosin on the quantity of antibody forming cells in the spleen and lymph nodes of guinea pigs].

A study was made of the effect of thymectomy carried out in guinea pigs aged 1 month on the antibody-forming cell (AFC) count (cells forming antibodies against sheep erythrocytes), and also the effect of thymosin on the AFC distribution in the spleen and the lymph nodes of thymectomized animals. It was shown that as a result of thymectomy the AFC content increased in the peripheral lymphoid organs, and, particularly, in the spleen. But under the effect of thymosin the AFC count in the spleen decreased and in the lymph nodes somewhat increased; this permitted one to suggest a normalizing influence of thymosin on the AFC count in the thymectomized animals.