Anatomy of Thymus

While studying the human anatomy, you can get to know that the location of the thymus is in the upper front portion of the chest cavity. This organ is situated just behind the sternum. The thymus functions to provide an area to T lymphocyte maturation as well as provide the protection against autoimmunity.

Learning about the anatomical part of thymus, it is an organ of pink-gray color. It is soft on its surface. During the birth time, the length of this organ is about 5 cm, its breadth is 4 cm and its thickness is about 6 mm. The thymus gets enlarged during the childhood whereas, it gets weaken in the teenagers. The size of this organ is the largest in the children as compared to the size of the liver, kidney and heart. In the teenagers, the weight of the thymus becomes the maximum of 20 to 37 grams. The activeness of this organ is only in the youth. As the age increases, this organ starts shrinking. The color of the thymus also changes with the increase in age. It is pink-gray in color in the children while it changes to yellow in the adults.

When the thymus is in most active condition, there are two lobes on the either sides of the middle line. Some part of it is located in the thorax, while some part is in the neck and extends in the upward direction from the fourth costal cartilage till the lower border of the thyroid gland. It is covered by the sternum.