Thymic abnormalities and growth hormone deficiency in dogs.

Abstract

A high frequency of occurrence of a wasting disease, unthriftiness, and retarded growth was observed in a group of inbred Weimaraner dogs. Affected pups had a small thymus gland, with a marked absence of thymic cortex. A litter of eight pups from a sire and dam that were known to have produced affected offspring was chosen for further study. The pups had normal concentrations of WBC and gamma-globulins and were able to produce antibody in response to Brucella abortus. Two pups in the litter developed a wasting syndrome and responded well to therapy with thymosin fraction 5. One pup that survived the wasting syndrome had a significant (P < 0.05) depression of its lymphocyte blastogenic response to phytohemagglutinin compared with its surviving littermates. Pups from this litter also lacked a normal increase in plasma growth hormone concentration after the injection of clonidine HCl. These pups had concurrent abnormalities of the thymus-dependent immune function and in growth hormone metabolism. The syndrome in these pups has some features in common with the syndrome in the Ames or Snell-Bagg strains of immunodeficient dwarf mice.

• Authors: J A Roth, L G Lomax, N Altszuler, J Hampshire, M L Kaeberle, M Shelton, D D Draper, A E Ledet
• Journal: American journal of veterinary research (Am J Vet Res) Vol. 41 Issue 8 Pg. 1256-62 (Aug 1980) ISSN: 0002-9645 [Print] United States
• PMID: 7447121 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Thymosin
• Growth Hormone

Topics

• Animals
• Dog Diseases (congenital, drug therapy, pathology)
• Dogs
• Female
• Growth Disorders (drug therapy, pathology, veterinary)
• Growth Hormone (deficiency)
• Lymph Nodes (pathology)
• Lymphatic Diseases (pathology, veterinary)
• Lymphocyte Activation
• Male
• Thymosin (therapeutic use)
• Thymus Gland (pathology, physiopathology)