The syncytial nature of epithelial cells in the thymic cortex

The epithelial cells of the cortex of human and rodent thymus glands were examined by light and electron microscopy, and the intracellular membrane potentials measured from the subcapsular, cortical and medullary regions. In the human thymus cortex, there is a highly correlated age-independent relationship (r = 0.78) between the distance in micron from one adjacent Type 2/3 epithelial nucleus to another, and the number of thymocytes between them. In rodent glands that had undergone some degree of involution due to hypoxia simulating an altitude of 17 000 feet or following the injection of phenylhydrazine, Type 2/3 epithelial cells were often found to be bi- or multinucleated. Electrophysiological studies of 10 mouse thymus lobes using 0.2 micron tipped electrodes showed that there were highly significant differences (P less than 0.0001) between the intracellular membrane potentials of the subcapsular zone, the cortex and the medulla. When dyes were injected intracellularly (through 0.5 micron tipped electrodes) into individual epithelial cells, methylene blue remained within the cytoplasm, but procion yellow passed in 30 minutes into the nuclei of all the epithelial cells of the cortex but not those of the subcapsular zone, nor the medulla. This indicates that the cortex must be a functional syncytium and it differs in this respect from the rest of the gland.