[Morphological characteristics of the Wistar rat thymus in experimental intracerebral hemorrhage]

The purpose of the present investigation was to study thymus structure in 108 Wistar rats possessing different prognostic resistance to an emotional stress under the conditions of experimentally modeled intracerebral hemorrhage. It was demonstrated that after the intracerebral hemorrhage, the thymus underwent changes that were associated with both the stereotyped response to stress and the development of an immune response against the damaged brain tissue: relative thymus mass and the cortico-medullary index were shown to decrease, while the volumetric fractions of the capsule and connective tissue septa were increased. The reaction of the vascular bed included stasis, diapedesis and perivascular edema. These changes were more expressed in the rats predisposed to an emotional stress.