Evolution of the Immune System

Flashcards on the evolution of the immune system.

Innate Immune System

The defense system present in every living organism, enabling them to resist aggression from outside and inside the body.

Adaptive Immune System

A complex immune system evolved only in a minority of living organisms that produces antibodies and cytotoxic killer cells for specific molecular recognition.

Phagocytosis

The process by which cells engulf particles, crucial for defense mechanisms, especially in primitive organisms.

Mobile Cells

Mobile cells, such as leukocytes, that patrol in the blood or reside in tissues, essential for defense mechanisms in the body.

Hemolymph

A circulating blood equivalent in insects, like flies, that aids in their protection.

Plasmocytes

Equivalent of phagocytic cells in insects.

Crystal Cells

Can deposit melanin and also trigger some type of clotting in insects.

Lamellocytes

Wrap pathogens to encapsulate those in insects.

Antimicrobial Peptides

Molecules that are able to destroy pathogens.

NETosis

The production of nets from neutrophils, made of remnants of DNA molecules with antimicrobial peptides attached, killing bacteria even after the neutrophil dies.