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The authors suggest extending the list of conventionally studied general pathological processes with psychosomatic and mental variants of pathology. These variants are relatively new in respect to evolution, are characteristic only for man and, in much lesser degree, for higher animals and have gained recognition in the last 50-100 years by defining the modern specificity of the nosological principle in medicine. The analysis of psychosomatic and psychic aspects of diseases may be of key importance for further development of general human pathology as a science.

Functional state of the adrenals and structural organization of the thymus and lymph nodes in the rats with hereditary stress-induced arterial hypertension (HSIAH) have been investigated in the control and against the background of a prolonged staying under conditions of a moderate cold. In comparison with the initial population of Wistar rats, the test animals demonstrate an elevated level of corticosterone, decreased mass and size of the thymus, the size of the popliteal lymph nodes is increased at the expense of the structural components of the medulla. In 7 weeks of living in cold secretion of adrenal steroids in Wistar rats increases greatly and it is noticeably less in the HSIAH rats. Structural changes in the thymus are also insignificant, but reaction of the lymph nodes is important. Their size sharply diminishes at the expense of certain structural components of the medulla. A shift towards mature forms of the plasmocytic line cells takes place.