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The thymus (pl.: thymuses or thymi) is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system.Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders.
The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system and complementary to the circulatory system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels , lymph nodes , lymphoid organs, lymphatic tissue and lymph .
The mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), also called mucosa-associated lymphatic tissue, is a diffuse system of small concentrations of lymphoid tissue found in various submucosal membrane sites of the body, such as the gastrointestinal tract, nasopharynx, thyroid, breast, lung, salivary glands, eye, and skin.
The gut-associated lymphoid tissue lies throughout the intestine, covering an area of approximately 260–300 m 2. [5] In order to increase the surface area for absorption, the intestinal mucosa is made up of finger-like projections (), covered by a monolayer of epithelial cells, which separates the GALT from the lumen intestine and its contents.
Thymus stromal cells are subsets of specialized cells located in different areas of the thymus. [1] They include all non-T-lineage cells, such as thymic epithelial cells (TECs), endothelial cells, mesenchymal cells, dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes, and provide signals essential for thymocyte development and the homeostasis of the thymic stroma.
English: ThymiStem in collaboration with animator Cameron Duguid have created a beautiful, hand drawn animation explaining the function of the thymus, an essential organ of the immune system. The video shows how T cells, a type of white blood cell, go through a complex journey in the thymus to become mature immune cells ready to fight off ...
The thymus contributes fewer cells as a person ages. As the thymus shrinks by about 3% [15] a year throughout middle age, a corresponding fall in the thymic production of naive T cells occurs, leaving peripheral T cell expansion and regeneration to play a greater role in protecting older people.
TECs, as a component of the thymus, play a key role in thymocyte development and self-tolerance, so their dysfunction causes many autoimmune diseases, tumors of immunodeficiencies. Most frequently are occurred epithelial tumors established from TEC and thymocytes - thymomas and thymic carcinoma.