Ultrastructure of the age-involuted adult human thymus

Summary Age involuted thymus tissue from a middle aged (33 years) and an old (63 years) man have been examined by electron microscopy and compared with thymus tissue from children. Biopsies had been taken during surgical correction of congenital heart defects.The fine structural architecture of cortex, medulla and connective tissue in the remaining lymphatic islands in the adult thymus investigated was not different to the thymus of children. We were surprised to find vigorous lymphocytopoiesis in the cortical regions and to recognize extended areas of medulla with a cellular composition which obviously provides the same microenvironment for T-cell maturation as the medulla of the non involuted thymus. Our findings are discussed in relation to the increasing arguments that the human thymus serves an immunological function throughout life.This investigation was supported by grants from the Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftI express my thanks to Professor Dr. med. Alexander Bernhard (Kiel) for kindly providing the human thymus tissue. The author also appreciates the excellent technical assistance of Mrs. Knauer, Mrs. Parczany, Mrs. Siebke and Mrs. Waluk