| Abstract: | The spleen and thymus have been studied macro- and microscopically in rats (180-200 g body mass) on the 1st, 3d, 5th, 7th, 14th and 28th days of adaptation to a decreased atmospheric pressure in the altitude chamber corresponding to lifting to 5,000 and 7,500 m (after a preliminary gradual acclimatization) and on the 14th, 28th, 42d, 56th days of readaptation. A relative mass of the organs, the white pulp section area--the transversal section area of the spleen ratio, the summation section area of its lymph nodules have been estimated. In the thymus the cortico-medullary index (CMI) has been defined. A relative mass of the spleen increases during the first week of hypoxia, and during adaptation period it somewhat decreases and stabilizes, remaining higher than in the control. At the altitude of 5,000 m the cross section area of the lymph nodules decreases by 17% on the 28th adaptation day and at the altitude of 7,500 m--by 27% beginning from the 14th up to the 28th adaptation days. In the thymus the CMI, after some decrease during the first days of hypoxia at the altitude of 5,000 m, increases and normalizes on the 28th adaptation day, and at the altitude of 7,500 m stabilizes on the 14th - 28th days of hypoxia. When the rats are at the altitudes of 5,000 and 7,500 m the thymus lymphoid tissue reacts more quickly to the hypoxia effect and much sooner normalizes during the readaptation period than does the white pulp of the spleen. The main changes in the lymphoid tissue of the spleen and thymus take place on the 7th - 28th days of hypoxia. |
