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Structural and Functional Alterations of the Aging Human Thymus

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In Vivo Immunology

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 149))

Abstract

If aging is regarded as a progressive loss of organ functions, the thymus may be considered as the first organ of the body involved in this process. Thymic involution starts when all other organs and tissues show increasing or peak values of functional and structural parameters. Since the involution of the thymus is suspected to be the structural basis of decreasing T-lymphocyte dependent immune functions with age, we were interested in giving a more detailed description of this process.

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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York

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Muller-Hermelink, H.K., Steinmann, G., Stein, H. (1982). Structural and Functional Alterations of the Aging Human Thymus. In: Nieuwenhuis, P., van den Broek, A.A., Hanna, M.G. (eds) In Vivo Immunology. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 149. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9066-4_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9066-4_42

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-9068-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-9066-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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