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Science 23 December 1983:
Vol. 222. no. 4630, pp. 1353 - 1355
DOI: 10.1126/science.6318312
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Articles

Science, Vol 222, Issue 4630, 1353-1355
Copyright © 1983 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The thymus-adrenal connection: thymosin has corticotropin-releasing activity in primates

DL Healy, GD Hodgen, HM Schulte, GP Chrousos, DL Loriaux, NR Hall, and AL Goldstein

Endotoxin-free thymosin fraction 5 elevated corticotropin, beta-endorphin, and cortisol in a dose- and time-dependent fashion when administered intravenously to prepubertal cynomolgus monkeys. Two synthetic component peptides of thymosin fraction 5 had no acute effects on pituitary function, suggesting that some other peptides in thymosin fraction 5 were responsible for its corticotropin-releasing activity. In agreement with these observations, total thymectomy of juvenile macaques was associated with decreases in plasma cortisol, corticotropin, and beta-endorphin. These findings indicate that the prepubertal primate thymus contains corticotropin-releasing activity that may contribute to a physiological immunoregulatory circuit between the developing immunological and pituitary-adrenal systems.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cerebrospinal Fluid and Behavioral Changes After Methyltestosterone Administration: Preliminary Findings.
R. C. Daly, T.-P. Su, P. J. Schmidt, D. Pickar, D. L. Murphy, and D. R. Rubinow (2001)
Arch Gen Psychiatry 58, 172-177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Thymosin Fraction 5 Inhibits the Proliferation of the Rat Neuroendocrine MMQ Pituitary Adenoma and C6 Glioma Cell Lines in Vitro.
B. L. Spangelo, D. D. Farrimond, M. Thapa, C. M. Bulathsinghala, K.-L. Bowman, A. Sareh, F. M. Hughes Jr., A. L. Goldstein, and M. Badamchian (1998)
Endocrinology 139, 2155-2162
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The neuroendocrine thymus: coexistence of oxytocin and neurophysin in the human thymus.
V Geenen, J. Legros, P Franchimont, M Baudrihaye, M. Defresne, and J Boniver (1986)
Science 232, 508-511
   Abstract »    PDF »


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