ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the summarized results of an extensive literature review of the thymus. The thymus gland is a lymphoid organ generally situated in the anterior super mediastinum. Large lymphoid hemocytoblasts have been observed in the cortex and granulocyto-blasts in the medulla. A comparison of the rodent isolation tests of K. Schwarz and co-workers with cachexia, in relation to the symptomatology, might be instructive. The well-documented involution of the thymus which initiates during or after puberty led various investigators to seek linkage between development of the gonads and changes in the thymus. The endocrine system interacts with the thymus in an unknown manner as regards wasting disease. Removal of the mouse thymus leads to a severe depletion of specific lymphocyte populations elsewhere, especially the small lymphocyte. The immunoregulatory influence of the various types of lymphocytes is different and complex in respect to the target cells.
