Abstract
The allogenic reaction of thymus was studied in a model of skin transplantation in mice. The animals were divided into three groups : control (group C); autotransplantation (group aUG); and allogenic transplantation (group aLG). The reaction to allogenic antigen was observed mainly with respect to the change of T cell subsets. After day 7, following transplantation, the skin grafts showed rejection histologically, and the percentage of CD8 lymphocytes in the grafts clearly increased in comparison with that of group C and aUG (p <0.01), and the relative thymus weight and the percentage of Double Positive (DP) lymphocytes in group aLG incresed in comparison with those of group C and aUG (p <0.01). After day 7, a direct correlation between CD8 lymphocytes in the graft and DP lymphocytes in the thymus was found (r = 0.41, p <0.05), and the following formula was obtained. The percentage of DP lymphocytes in thymus= 0.08 × the percentage of CD8 lymphocytes in graft + 82.14 These results indicate that the immunological responses of thymus to the allogenic antigen occur according to the intensity of rejection.
