| Abstract: | In experiments on thymectomized adult CBA mice the effect of a homogeneous factor of polypeptide nature from the thymus, with mol. wt. about 5000 (thymarin-III) on the cellular and humoral indices of immunity was studied in animals. Thymectomy in animals was shown to sharply reduce the number of T-cells in the spleen. Correspondingly, the ability of the mice to produce both IgM- and IgG-antibody-forming cells and humoral antibodies against a thymus-dependent antigen (sheep's red blood cells) was sharply inhibited in the mice. Subcutaneous injection of thymarin-III in a dose of 1  g/kg into the animals daily for 7 days completely restored the T-cell population of the spleen and restored the normal immunologic reactivity of the animals.Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR V. I. Ioffe.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 86, No. 7, pp. 51–53, July, 1978. |
