[Effect of thymectomy and polypeptide thymus factor on development of alimentary reflex in rats]

The effects of thymectomy and polypeptide thymus factor on the formation of alimentary instrumental reflex were studied in rat experiments. It was shown that 8-9 months after thymectomy the percentage of rats trained the alimentary instrumental reflex decreased from 85.7 +/- 9.7 (sham-operated animals) to 22.2 +/- 14.7 (thymectomized animals). By the same time T lymphocytes had been completely eliminated from the spleen. The motor activity and its pattern were similar in the sham-operated and thymectomized animals. Daily administration of the polypeptide thymus factor (thymarine) intramuscularly to the rats at a rate of 1 mg per animal for 10 days recovered the percentage of the trained animals to the control levels.