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From: abc@brl-tgr.ARPA (Brint Cooper )
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Arginine and Ornithine -- Information Thereon
Message-ID: <4650@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 15-Sep-84 12:00:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.4650
Posted: Sat Sep 15 12:00:00 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 06:31:13 EDT
References: <2263@tekig.UUCP>
Organization: Ballistics Research Lab
Lines: 27

>Arginine:
>	L-Arginine is classified as nonessential for adults, but
>	essential for growth in children.  L-A is known to stregnthen
>	the immune system and to stimulate the release of growth hormones.
>	It has also been reported to promote thymus activity as well
>	as wound healing.  The thymus serves as the master immune gland
>	which coordinated the production of T-Cells that identify foreign
>	invaders or cancers and direct further immune actions.

Also, be advised that the thymus gland is implicated in the
neuromuscular disease, myasthenia gravis.  The thymus does most of its
work in the prenatal being and in very early childhood.  By adolescence,
the thymus should begin to shrink.  In the adult, the normal thymus
should be atrophied and dormant.  (See modern Physiology texts for
confirmation and a better explanation.)  Any person suffering from
myasthenia who is discovered (by chest CAT scan) to have a large thymus
is a good candidate for thymectomy (removal of the thymus).  Indeed, if
the myasthenia is bad enough (it can kill you via respiratory failure),
the thymus is removed anyway - with improvement in about 87% of the
cases studied.  By the way, this involves sawing open the breastbone as
in open heart surgery. 
	If some chemical promises to enlarge the thymus, it probably
should be avoided.

Brint