现代胸腺学起始于1961年,当时Miller等分别用去胸腺新生鼠和新生兔做实验观察,发现它们不能正常成长,淋巴组织不能发育成熟,免疫能力低下。这一成果明确了胸腺在机体中的重要性,引起重视。20世纪70年代,又有人给去胸腺小鼠注射胸腺提取物,发现可恢复小鼠的免疫能力。此后,各国对胸腺及其各种产物的研究进展较快。我国在70年代中期也开始了胸腺的临床应用研究。 一、胸腺的生理性和病理性退变 由Mille、Archer等的实验开始,人们渐渐认识到胸腺既是T细胞繁殖成熟的重要场所,又是体内胸腺激素的发源地,为机体免疫系统充分发育和功能成熟所必需。但机体的免疫功能是伴随增龄和衰老而减退的。胸腺首先出现退行性变。kenda11等1980的研究很有说服力。他们将574名“健康”死亡者尸解,取其完整胸腺称重,发现人类胸腺在不同年龄组轻重差异较大(图1)其中少年人胸腺与老年人胸腺外观上很不一样,并且认为这种差别主要是由于胸腺随年龄增大渐渐脂肪化所致(图2)。Tosi等曾用电子计算机演算了人胸腺体积与年龄 Modern thymus began in 1961, when Miller and others were used to observe the newborn rat thymus and newborn rabbits, respectively, and found that they could not grow normally. Lymphatic tissue could not mature and had low immunocompetence. This result clearly the importance of the thymus in the body, attention. In the 1970s, thymus mice were injected with thymus extract and found to restore immunocompetence in mice. Since then, the research of thymus and its various products in various countries has progressed rapidly. My country in the mid-70s also began clinical application of thymus. First, the physiological and pathological degeneration of the thymus By Mille, Archer and other experiments began, people gradually realized that thymus is not only an important place for T cells to reproduce mature, but also the birthplace of thymus hormones in the body for the full development of the immune system and Necessary for functional maturity. But the body’s immune function is accompanied by aging and decreased aging. Thymus first degeneration. The research of kenda11 et al 1980 is very convincing. They were 574 “healthy” dead were autopsied, and their intact thymus was weighed and found that human thymus in different age groups, the severity of the difference (Figure 1), in which the thymus juvenile thymus and elderly appearance is very different, and that This difference is mainly due to the gradual thymus with increasing fat due to (Figure 2). Tosi et al. Used computer calculations of human thymus volume and age