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Surprise organ discovered in mice
Mice are shown to have two thymus organs, not just one
News@Nature.com ^
| March 02, 2006
| Helen Pearson
Posted on 03/02/2006 8:09:22 PM PST by Marius3188
After a century of scrutinizing the laboratory mouse, one might imagine that scientists would know the creature's body like the back of their own hands. Think again, because German researchers say they have discovered a whole new organ.
Common knowledge holds that in mice, the thymus, a pinkish-grey lump of tissue that helps to produce the infection-fighting T cells of the immune system, is roughly the size of a pea and nestles in the chest above the heart.
Now Hans-Reimer Rodewald at the University of Ulm in Germany, and his colleagues say they have discovered a smaller, second thymus hidden in the necks of lab mice. "I couldn't believe it for the first couple of months," Rodewald says. "2006 is not the time that you expect to change anatomy."
Confounding organ
The discovery raises questions about some immunology studies in mice. Researchers interested in the immune system often slice out the main thymus of mice in order to study how this system works without it, and how T cells are produced in the gut and skin.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: animalresearch; mice; organ; thymus
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Pretty cool.
"Confounding organ"
Quote of the day. I'll try to use that one in conversation this weekend.
To: Marius3188
Hans is happier than a puppy with two peters.
2
posted on
03/02/2006 8:18:57 PM PST
by
JakeSladder
(i used to be an angry young man, now, i'm just angry.)
To: Marius3188
So what is the plural of thymus?
3
posted on
03/02/2006 8:20:24 PM PST
by
WayneM
(Remember; "Saturday people first. Sunday people next.")
To: Marius3188
Watch this throw every lab study done on these things into question. LOL!
4
posted on
03/02/2006 8:20:50 PM PST
by
zarf
(It's time for a college football playoff system.)
To: WayneM
To: WayneM
6
posted on
03/02/2006 8:26:08 PM PST
by
gaijin
To: zarf
Gee. I was just running through a list of medical "knowledge" that wasn't so. Never thought they'd miss organs in test mice.
7
posted on
03/02/2006 8:28:07 PM PST
by
lepton
("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
To: Marius3188
8
posted on
03/02/2006 8:31:08 PM PST
by
SC Swamp Fox
(Join our Folding@Home team (Team# 36120) keyword: folding)
To: Marius3188
Now if I could give a lady a "confounding organ" moment.
To: Marius3188
This reminds me of a Looney Tunes cartoon which featured a cat and a dog. The dog was trying to catch the cat for whatever reason and he tried holding a female cat puppet over a fence to attract the cat. The cat discovers the puppet and begins caressing her. His hand goes up and down her back until his hand ends up resting on the dog's nose. The cat, confused, looks directly into the audience and proclaims "Something new has been added!"
To: WayneM
11
posted on
03/02/2006 8:41:21 PM PST
by
Hessian
(Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
To: Marius3188
12
posted on
03/02/2006 8:41:25 PM PST
by
Atlas Sneezed
(Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
To: Marius3188
Q: What rhymes with Thymus?
A: Another Thymus of course.
13
posted on
03/02/2006 8:48:28 PM PST
by
Bullish
( The pig headed monkeys of Islam can kiss my grits!)
To: Marius3188
"Little white mice cause cancer..."
- a guest on Fernwood 2 Night
14
posted on
03/02/2006 8:59:27 PM PST
by
Leo Farnsworth
(I'm not really not Leo Farnsworth)
To: WayneM
So what is the plural of thymus?
__________________
Thymii, oh my.
15
posted on
03/02/2006 9:11:13 PM PST
by
Louis Foxwell
(Here come I, gravitas in tow.)
To: Marius3188
well, the first one is obviously the "George Bush" thymus, and the one lurking in the background is the "Karl Rove" thymus, the real mastermind of the operation...
16
posted on
03/02/2006 9:32:39 PM PST
by
castlebrew
(true gun control is hitting where you're aiming!)
To: zarf
After a century of scrutinizing the laboratory mouse, one might imagine that scientists would know the creature's body like the back of their own hands. Hmmm... you wonder what else these guys have been missing...
17
posted on
03/02/2006 10:07:55 PM PST
by
Fido969
(It's all about ME)
To: Reaganesque
18
posted on
03/02/2006 10:09:52 PM PST
by
BigCinBigD
(Merry Christmas!)
To: Marius3188
It took 2 centuries of disecting mice to discover they have two thymus glands?
19
posted on
03/02/2006 10:13:50 PM PST
by
Minutemen
("It's a Religion of Peace")
To: Marius3188
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