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Originally published in Science Express on 2 March 2006
Science 14 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5771, pp. 284 - 287
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123497
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Reports

Evidence for a Functional Second Thymus in Mice

Grzegorz Terszowski,1* Susanna M. Müller,1* Conrad C. Bleul,3 Carmen Blum,1 Reinhold Schirmbeck,2 Jörg Reimann,2 Louis Du Pasquier,4 Takashi Amagai,5 Thomas Boehm,3 Hans-Reimer Rodewald1{dagger}

The thymus organ supports the development of T cells and is located in the thorax. Here, we report the existence of a second thymus in the mouse neck, which develops after birth and grows to the size of a small lymph node. The cervical thymus had a typical medulla-cortex structure, was found to support 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.

1 Department of Immunology, University of Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
2 Department for Internal Medicine I, University of Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany.
3 Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology, Stuebeweg 51, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany.
4 Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Basel, CH4051 Basel, Switzerland.
5 Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, Hiyoshicho, Funai-gun, Kyoto 629-0392, Japan.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hans-reimer.rodewald{at}uni-ulm.de

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