Which organ produces T-lymphocytes and shrinks with age?

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Multiple Choice

Which organ produces T-lymphocytes and shrinks with age?

T-lymphocytes mature in the thymus, an organ located behind the sternum. It’s highly active in early life and grows as the immune system develops, but it undergoes involution with age, gradually shrinking and being replaced by fatty tissue. That combination—the site of T-cell maturation that also decreases in size as we get older—identifies the thymus. The other options don’t fit: the lymphatic system is a network aiding immune function, not the primary site of T-cell production; plasma is the liquid component of blood; blood capillaries are vessels, not an organ, and they don’t produce T-lymphocytes.

T-lymphocytes mature in the thymus, an organ located behind the sternum. It’s highly active in early life and grows as the immune system develops, but it undergoes involution with age, gradually shrinking and being replaced by fatty tissue. That combination—the site of T-cell maturation that also decreases in size as we get older—identifies the thymus. The other options don’t fit: the lymphatic system is a network aiding immune function, not the primary site of T-cell production; plasma is the liquid component of blood; blood capillaries are vessels, not an organ, and they don’t produce T-lymphocytes.

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