[Morphofunctional changes in the immune system during reparative regeneration of the liver]

A rise of the functional activity of the immune system was noted during reparative processes in the liver Resection of the liver was accompanied by sharp changes in the thymus and spleen structure. The thymus-dependent parts of the spleen were particularly reactive. Resection of the liver in rats was accompanied by an elevation in the bone marrow of the stem cell count (determined by the splenic colony method). The number of the colony-forming cells was significantly greater in the spleen of the recipients of lymphoid cells taken from the operated animals than in the spleen of the recipients of lymphoid cells from intact rats. In screening the limb the capacity to form endogenous colonies proved to be greater in partially hepatectomized rats as compared to the unoperated animals. In rabbits resection of the liver was accompanied by a significant increase of the immunological reactivity on the 1st-3rd postoperative days. Leukergia and leukocytolysis reaction displayed a marked intensification at this period.