title: Thymus: central role in the immune system of the frog.
abstract: In the leopard frog (Rana pipiens), the thymus profoundly influences immunologic development by providing virtually all the progenitor lymphocytic cells for the bone marrow and other peripheral lymphoid organs. The thymus houses a self-perpetuating population of lymphopoietic cells that originally self-differentiated in that gland.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D011894:Rana pipiens / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*