Summary
Quantitative electron microscopic studies have been carried out on the human thymus. According to the equation L v =(2n)/F (Hennig, 1963) we have calculated that there is less than 0.204 mm nerve per 1 mm3 thymus tissue inside the blood-thymus-barrier (level of significance of 0.95). This result is compared to the degree of innervation in brown adipose tissue, which contains more than 160 mm nerve per 1 mm3 tissue. The biological significance of the paucity of neuronal elements in the thymus is undetermined.
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We are much obliged to Dipl. Ing. Dr. A. Hennig for his advice in the mathematical evaluation of our results.
We are also indebted to Dr. med. A. Krug (Chir. Universitätsklinik Kiel) for human thymus material.
This investigation was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
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Pfoch, M., Unsicker, K. & Schimmler, J. Quantitative electron microscopic studies on the innervation of the human thymus. Z. Zellforsch. 119, 115–119 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330542
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330542