Innate Immune Response and Phagocytosis Overview

Adaptive Immune Response

A specific and long-lasting defense mechanism that protects the body from infections and other foreign substances.

Cytokines

Small protein molecules that play a role in all phases of the immune response.

Cytokines Functions

Cause fever, activate other immune system cells, decrease ability of viruses to replicate, cause clotting to keep an infection localized.

Cytokine Storm

A condition where too many cytokines are released, leading to septic shock.

Enzymes

Proteins that help speed up metabolism, or the chemical reactions in our bodies.

Exocytosis

A cellular process where a cell releases substances from its interior to the outside of the cell by fusing a vesicle containing the material with the cell membrane.

Inflammatory Response

A response initiated by macrophages and characterized by pain, redness, heat, and swelling at the site of infection.

Purposes of Inflammatory Response

Allows additional immune cells to come to the site of the infection, helps in local blood clotting to prevent further spread of the infection, helps promote the repair of damaged tissues.

Innate Immune Response

Body's first line of defense against infections and other harmful substances; it is a non-specific, rapid response that is present from birth.

Lysosome

A cell organelle that is filled with enzymes that breaks down and digests unwanted cell parts and waste materials.

Macrophages

Long-lived cells of the immune system that ingest pathogens and debris, and release cytokines.

Mucous Membranes

A layer of epithelial cells that lines many parts of the body and secretes mucous to protect against pathogens.

Pathogen

A disease-causing agent such as a bacterium or virus.

Pathogen-associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs)

Antigenic molecules found in bacterial cell walls, flagella, bacterial DNA, and viral RNA that are recognizable as foreign to the immune system.

Phagocytosis

A process in which a cell engulfs another cell or particle to create a compartment and ingest it in preparation to destroy it.

Phagolysosome

A compartment in phagocytes that destroys pathogens and other foreign material, formed when a phagosome fuses with a lysosome.

Phagosome

A vesicle that forms around a particle that has been engulfed by a phagocyte cell.

Receptors

Protein molecules found on or inside cells that recognize and bind to specific signaling molecules.

Skin

The layers of tissue covering the body that serve as a major protective physical barrier from potential pathogens in the environment.