STUDIES ON THE RATES OF INVOLUTION AND RECONSTITUTION OF LYMPHATIC TISSUE1

MARKED lymphatic tissue Involution has been demonstrated under conditions of inanition, irradiation and chronic treatment with adrenocortical hormones. Starvation provides certain unique advantages for the investigation of adrenocortically mediated acute lymphatic tissue involution. It is now known that: (1) loss of lymphatic tissue weight during a period of inanition begins earlier and proceeds at a more rapid rate than that of other body tissues (Jolly, 1914) and, (2) the rate of release of nitrogen from lymphatic tissue in the starved animal is under adrenocortical hormone control (White and Dougherty, 1947). Although there is an extensive amount of literature on the involution of lymphatic tissue produced by inanition, little is known concerning its reconstitution. A series of experiments was designed to compare the influences of fasting and refeeding on lymphatic tissue of intact and adrenalectomized mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 515 CBA mice of both sexes between 12 and 16 weeks of age was used in these experiments.