The effect of the extirpation of the thyroid upon the thymus and the pituitary glands of Rana pipiens

✍ Scribed by Rogers, James B.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1918
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 738 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1400240307

✦ Synopsis

ONE PLATE AND TWO CHARTS

This problem was worked out in the laboratory of the Zoology Department of the University of Kansas under the direction of Dr. B. M. Allen in connection with other problems concerning the experimental removal of glands of internal secretion from Rana pipiens. Due credit is given for advice, material, and assistance, all of which have been of great help.

The thymus and the pituitary glands of a number of specimens of Rana pipiens in different stages of development were measured and drawn with camera lucida and comparisons made with thyroidless specimens.

The thymus is a paired gland found on the sides of the head of the frog just posterior to the tympanic membrane. In section the thymus appears as a round, compact mass of deeply staining cells with a darker outer portion and an inner part that stains somewhat lighter. The characteristic thymic corpuscles are found in the frog thymus. The general appearance is that of lymphoid tissue but it is characterized by the thymic corpuscles. The thymus usually degenerates when sexual maturity is reached but may last through the life of the individual. The thymus is now considered as of lymphoid character but with the function of an organ of internal secretion that has to ~ do with normal growth and sexual development. The thymic corpuscles are interpreted by some as the portions that have the secretory function (Bell '05).' It has been regarded as the original source of the leukocytes (Beard