As we age, our thymus shrinks, or atrophies, by a process called involution, yet T-cell immunity is still functional in old age

A. Explain how T-cell numbers in the periphery remain constant in the absence of continual replenishment from the thymus.
B. How does this differ from the maintenance of the B-cell repertoire?

What will be an ideal response?


A. After thymic atrophy or thymectomy, T cells in the periphery self-renew by cell division and are long lived.
B. B cells are short lived and replenish from immature precursors derived from the bone marrow.

Health & Biomechanics

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