Effects of Birth Season and Thymus Transplantation on Experimental Animal Longevity

It is demonstrated in this study that a decrease in the rate of irreversible age-related thymus atrophy affects animal longevity. It was observed that the life span of rats may be increased by thymus transplantation from young animals into the immune privileged regions of ageing rats. It has been shown that the season of birth has effects on animal longevity, namely, rats born in the spring-summer period live shorter lives than those born in autumn or winter.