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Abnormalities of thymus growth in dystrophic mice

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Abstract

IN spite of the attention paid to the relationship between myasthenia gravis and the thymus, little work has been done on the thymus in muscular dystrophy. Walker1 found that mouse dystrophy was not alleviated by neonatal thymectomy and Matheson2 provided evidence against the idea that muscular dystrophy might be a lymphocytemediated autoimmune disease. It therefore seems unlikely that overactivity of lymphoid function of the thymus has any role in muscular dystrophy: the possible role of a thymic deficiency has not been considered. Our interest was aroused when we noticed that in certain superficial ways dystrophic mice of the Bar Harbor 129 strain3–5 appear similar to mice which have been neonatally thymectomised. Their growth is stunted to a very variable degree, their coat quality is poor and they are liable to die suddenly for no very obvious reason. We now present evidence for an abnormality of thymus growth in these animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Institute and Universite de Montréal, 110 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Canada

    R. A. KARMALI & D. F. HORROBIN

Authors
  1. R. A. KARMALI
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  2. D. F. HORROBIN
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KARMALI, R., HORROBIN, D. Abnormalities of thymus growth in dystrophic mice. Nature 263, 684–685 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/263684a0

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