Anat - Immune System Flashcards
What is the lymphoid/lymphatic system?
Consists of cells, tissues, and organs involved in the defense of the body against invasion by bacteria, viruses, and other foreign bodies
What is a lymphoid tissue?
Reticular connective tissue filled with numerous lymphocytes
Can be classifed as primary vs secondary, and diffuse vs dense
What are examples of primary lymphoid tissues?
- Bone marrow (naive B cells develop here)
- Thymus (T cells develop here)
*These are where lymphoid cells are generated/developed
What are examples of secondary lymphoid tissues?
- Lymph nodes
- Spleen
- Tonsils
- Lymphoid aggregates in certain organs
- Scattered lymphocytes in connective tissue
- Lymphocytes circulating in blood and lymph
- Other immune cells: plasma cells, APCs (macrophages, langerhan’s cells of the skin, DC in lymph nodes/spleen, microglial cells in CNS)
*These are where lymphoid cells reside and function to fight antigens
What are examples of diffuse and dense lymphoid tissue?
Diffuse - lamina propria of gut and respiratory tract
Dense - Mucosa associated lymphoid tisses (MALT), discrete encapsulated organs
=> Dense lymphoid tissues are capsules of lymphoid cells
Compare and contrast innate and adaptive immunity
Innate:
- Non-specific
- Granulocytes/leukocytes
- Early response
Adaptive:
- Specific
- T and B lymphocytes
- APC (from monocytes)
- Memory lymphocytes pdn
- More gradual, slow response
- Cellular or humoral (antibodies) types
What are the physicial barriers of the innate immunity?
- Intact skin
- Mucous membrane
- Luminal surface of cavities are lined by mucous membrane (mouth, nose, vaginal, anal)
What are the chemical barriers of the innate immunity?
- Hydrochloric acid of the stomach
- Lysozyme in bodily secretions such as sweat, tears, saliva
- Lactic acid in the vagina
Explain how inflammation (non-specific) may occur?
Mast cells release histamine, cause vasodilation and increased permeability of the blood vessels, chemotaxis of WBCs to where pathogens are, phagocytes can consume pathogen and cell debris
Describe the appearance of mast cells
Circular cell with circular nucleus
Granules filled with histamine + heparin
Describe the appearance of macrophages
Contain lysosomes* and myelin figures
Where does the adaptive immune response occur?
Occurs in specialized tissues and organs such as the lymph nodes and spleen
Explain the movement of fluid across the lymphatic system
- Part of the fluid from circulating blood in the capillaries passes into the surrounding tissues as tissue fluid
- Some fluid can re-enter the capillaries in the circulatory system, while the rest enter the lymphatic vessels
- Fluid in lymphatic vessels is known as lymph
- Lymph nodes (bean-shaped) are scattered along the lymphatic vessels
- Lymph from any part of the body must pass through one or more lymph node before it can enter the bloodstream
What are the main lymphatic vessels
Main vessel: thoracic duct
Join back to the circulatory system through the subclavian duct into the subclavian trunk => to the smaller lymphatic vessels
Compare the appearance of a resting lymphocyte to an activated plasma cell
Resting lymphocyte:
- Organelles are spread around the cell body
- Little cytoplasm, scanty organelles, scattered free ribosomes
- Nucleus contains predominantly heterochromatin clumps
Plasma cell:
- Organelles are concentrated in one part to make antibodies
- Abundance of protein-synthesizing rough endoplasmic reticulum
B lymphocytes constitute about ____% of the circulating lymphocytes, while T lymphocytes constitutes ____%
B lymphocytes: 20-30%
T lymphocytes: 60-80%
*NK cells is a large granular lymphocyte (also come from the lymphoid steam cell)