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It is generally accepted that the immune system, although regulated to a large extent by intrinsic cellular and humoral events, is sensitive to signals generated out of the immune network, namely, in the nervous and endocrine systems. This assumption is supported by two lines of experimental evidence: first, that spontaneous or induced alterations in the neuroendocrine system may cause functional modifications of immune reactivity’and, second, that present on the membrane of lymphoid cells are receptor sites for many low molecular weight and protein hormones.‘On the other hand, the neuroendocrine system seems to act not only as a modulator of the immune network, but also as a target for signals generated within the immune system. Examples of such interactions are the alterations that can be induced in the neuroendocrine balance either by removal of relevant lymphoid organs, such as the thymus: or by the …