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Published Online March 2, 2006
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1123497

Reports

Submitted on December 6, 2005
Accepted on February 20, 2006

Evidence for a Functional Second Thymus in Mice

Grzegorz Terszowski 1, Susanna M. Müller 1, Conrad C. Bleul 2, Carmen Blum 1, Reinhold Schirmbeck 3, Jörg Reimann 3, Louis DuPasquier 4, Takashi Amagai 5, Thomas Boehm 2, Hans-Reimer Rodewald 1*

1 Department of Immunology, University of Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
2 Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology, Stuebeweg 51, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany.
3 Department for Internal Medicine I, University of Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
4 Department for Zoology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
5 Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, Hiyoshi-cho, Funai-gun, Kyoto, 629-0392 Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Hans-Reimer Rodewald , E-mail: hans-reimer.rodewald{at}uni-ulm.de

The thymus organ supports the development of T cells and is located in the thorax. We report here the existence of a second thymus in the neck, which develops after birth, reaching the size of a small lymph node. The cervical thymus displayed a typical medulla-cortex-structure, and was found to be functional with regard to T cell development, and could correct T cell deficiency in athymic nude mice upon transplantation. The identification of a regular second thymus in the mouse may provide "evolutionary links" to thymus organogenesis in other vertebrates, and suggests a need to reconsider the effect of thoracic thymectomy on de novo T cell production.


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