Chapter 24: The immune system Flashcards
What is immunity?
The body’s ability to protect itself
What does the immune system distinguish when carrying out its function?
By distinguishing “self” (The body’s normal cells) from “nonself”
What is “nonself” cells?
Nonself includes viruses, bacteria, parasites, allergens, and other disease-causing pathogens, in addition to any of our own cells that have become defective and threaten to do harm, such as become cancer
What is the body’s first line of defence against external pathogens?
includes physical, chemical, and mechanical barriers, such as skin, tears, mucus, and stomach acid
what happens if pathogens evade the protective barriers?
The body initiates an immediate internal immune response with four basic steps:
1.) detection and identification of the pathogen
2.) communication with other immune cells to rally an organised response
3.) recruitment of assistance and coordination of the response among all participants
4.) destruction or suppression of the pathogen
What are immunogens?
Substances that trigger the body’s immune response
what are antigens ?
immunogens that react with products of the immune response
what is the internal immune response carried out by?
Leukocytes, and is heavily dependent on cell-to-cell communication
What does chemical communication in the immune system include?
substances released by damaged or dying cells, as well as cytokines
What are cytokines?
protein signal molecules released by one cell that affect the growth or activity of another cell
The immune system is the primary user of contact-dependent signalling that occurs when the surface receptors on one cell recognise and bind to surface receptors on another cell, true or false?
True
The internal immune response can be divided into two phases:
A rapid innate response, and a slower adaptive response
describe innate immunity
-present from birth
-is the body’s immediate immune response to invasion
-not specific to one pathogen, so it begins within minutes to hours
-an innate immune response to a pathogen is not remembered by the immune system and must be triggered anew with each exposure
Describe the cells for the rapid innate immune response
-circulating and stationary leukocytes that are genetically programmed to respond to a broad range of material that they identify as foreign
What happens when certain types of leukocytes identify bacterium as a pathogen, and what are those leukocytes?
-Called phagocytes, when phagocytes identify the bacterium as a pathogen, they ingest it via phagocytosis and digest it.
-Some types of phagocytes then display bits of disgusted pathogens on their cell surface to attract cells involved in the adaptive immune response
What are the cells that display bits of digested pathogens on their cell surface to attraction cells involved in the adaptive immune response called?
antigen-presenting cells (APCs)
describe adaptive immunity
-directed at particular invaders
-the body’s specific immune response
-steps needed to launch a specific immune response following first exposure to a pathogen may take days to weeks –> however, upon re-exposure certain immune cells called memory cells “remember” their prior exposure to the pathogen and react more rapidly.
what can adaptive immunity be divided into?
cell-mediated immunity and antibody-mediated immunity
what is cell-mediated immunity?
requires contact-dependent signalling between an immune cell and receptor on its target cell
what is antibody-meditated immunity (aka humoral immunity)?
-uses antibodies (proteins secreted by immune cells) to carry out the immune response
-antibodies bind to foreign substances to disable them or make the more visible to the cells of the immune system
is the innate and adaptive immune response separate or do they overlap?
-overlap, they are interconnected parts of a single process
-innate response is the more rapid response, but it does not target a specific invader. It is reinforced by the antigen-specific adaptive response, which amplifies the efficacy of the innate response
what are the three major functions the immune system serves?
-tries to recognise and remove abnormal “self” cells created when normal cell growth and development go wrong
-it removes dead or damaged cells, as well as old red blood cells. Scavenger cells of the immune system patrol the extracellular compartment, gobbling up and digesting dead or dying cells
-it protects the body from disease-causing pathogens. Microorganisms (microbes) that act as pathogens include bacteria and viruses, fungi and one-celled protozoans. Larger pathogens include multicellular parasites
What are the two anatomical components of the immune system?
lymphoid tissues and the cells responsible for the immune response
Where is the immune system positioned anatomically?
Positioned wherever the pathogens are most likely to enter the body. For example, mucous membranes of the oral cavity have higher concentrations of immune cells than the tissue surrounding skeletal muscles of the leg.
where are lymphoid tissues found?
found all over the body
What are the primary lymphoid tissues?
The primary lymphoid tissues are:
-thymus gland
-bone marrow
(Both organs are sires where cells involved in the immune response form and mature)
What are secondary lymphoid tissues?
-in the secondary lymphoid tissues immune cells interact with pathogens and initiate a response
-secondary tissues are divided into encapsulated tissues and unencapsulated diffuse lymphoid tissues
What are the encapsulated lymphoid tissues?
-Spleen and Lymph nodes
-both spleen and lymph nodes have fibrous collagenous capsule walls and immune cells positioned so that they monitor the extracellular compartment for foreign invader – phagocytic cells in the spleen also trap and remove aging red blood cells
The lymph nodes are part of the…
lymphatic circulation, which is closely associated with capillaries of the cardiovascular system.
What are the unencapsulated diffuse lymphoid tissues?
-Are aggregations of immune cells that appear in other organs and tissues of the body
-they include cells in the skin and the tonsils o the posterior nasopharynx as well as cells associated with mucosal surfaces exposed to the external environment – The latter are known collectively as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)
What are the subgroups of MALT and where are they positioned?
-gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) (lies just under the epithelium of the oesophagus and intestines
-clusters of lymphoid tissue associated with the respiratory, urinary, and reproductive tracts
-in each location, the immune cells are positioned to intercept invading pathogens before they get into the general circulation.
-because of the large surface area of the digestive tract epithelium, some authorities consider GALT to be the body’s largest immune organ
What are leukocytes (or white blood cells)?
-Primary cell type responsible for immune responses
-although leukocytes circulate in the blood, they also leave the capillaries and function extravascularly (outside the vessels)
-some types of leukocytes can live out in the tissues for several months but other may only like for only hours or day
What are the types of leukocytes?
1.) Basophils in the blood and the related mast cells in the tissues
2.) eosinophils
3.) neutrophils
4.) monocytes and their derivative macrophages
5.) dendritic cells
6.) lymphocytes and their derivative plasma cells
(dendritic cells and mast cells are not usually found in the blood, and therefore are often excluded from discussions of leukocytes in blood)
describe granulocytes
-A morphological group of leukocytes
-white blood cells whose cytoplasm’s contains prominent granules
-granulocytes include: basophils, eosinophils, and neutrophils
- the cell names come from the staining properties of the granules –> basophil granules stain dark blue with basic (alkaline) dye, and eosinophil granules stain dark pink with the acidic dye eosin, and neutrophil granules do not stain darkly with standard blood stains and are therefore “neutral”.
- in all three types of granulocytes, the activated leukocyte releases its granule contents by exocytosis, a process known as degranulation
What are the two functional groups of leukocytes? And describe them.
-phagocytes and antigen-presenting cells
-phagocytes ingest material from the extracellular fluid using a large vesicle –> include neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells
-antigen-presenting cells (APCs) have the ability to display bits of antigen on their surface as a signal to other immune cells –> primary APCs are the macrophages and dendritic cells
describe basophils and mast cells
-basophils are rare in the circulation but are easily recognised in a stained blood smear by the large, dark blue granules in their cytoplasm
-basophils are related to the mast cells of tissues
-mast cells are concentrated in the connective tissues of skin, lungs, and the gastrointestinal tract; both locations where they are ideally situated to intercept pathogens
-both basophils and mast cells release chemicals that contribute to inflammation and the innate immune response
describe eosinophils
-easily recognisable by the bright pink-staining granules in their cytoplasm
-normally, few eosinophils are found in the peripheral circulation
-most functioning eosinophils are found in the digestive tract, lungs, urinary and genital epithelia, and connective tissue of the skin –> these locations reflect their role in defence against parasitic invaders
-attach to large antibody-coated parasites, such as blood fluke Schistosoma, and release substances from their granules that damage or kill the parasites
-Also participate in allergic reactions, where they contribute to inflammation and tissue damage by releasing toxic enzymes and oxidative substances
Describe neutrophils
-phagocytic cells that typically ingest and kill 5-20 bacteria during their short, programmed life span of one or two days
-most abundant white blood cells (50-70% of the total) and are most easily identified by a segment nucleus made up of three to five lobes connected by thin strands of nuclear material
-because of the segmented nucleus, neutrophils are also called polymorphonuclear leukocytes
-immature neutrophils, occasionally found in the circulation, can be identified by the horseshoe-shaped nucleus. These immature neutrophiles go by the nicknames of “bond” and “stabs”.
-neutrophils, like other blood cell, are formed in the bone marrow and released into the circulation.
-most neutrophils remain in the blood but can leave the circulation if attracted to an extravascular site of damage or infection
-in addition to ingesting bacteria and foreign particles, neutrophils release a variety of cytokines, including fever-causing pyrogens and chemical mediators of the inflammatory response
describe monocytes and macrophages
-monocytes are the precursor cells of tissue macrophages
-monocytes are not very common in the blood (1-6% of all white blood cells)
-only spend eight hours in their transit from the bone marrow to their permanent positions in the tissues
-once in the tissues, monocytes enlarge and differentiate into phagocytic macrophages
-some tissue macrophages patrol the tissues, creeping along amoeboid motion. Others find a location and remain fixed in place. In either case, macrophages are the primary scavenges within tissues
-They are larger and more effective than neutrophils, ingesting up to 100 bacteria during their life span.
-Macrophages also remove larger particles, such as old red blood cells and dead neutrophils
-histiocytes in skin, Kupffer cells in liver, osteoclasts in bone, microglia in the brain, and reticuloendothelial cells in the spleen are all name for specialised macrophages
-The new name for the reticuloendothelial system is the mononuclear phagocyte system, a term that refers both to macrophages in the tissues and to their parent monocytes circulating in the blood
describe dendritic cells
-are macrophages relatives characterised by long, thin processes that resemble the dendrites of neurons
-found in the skin (where they are called Langerhans cells) and in various organs
-They play a key role in linking innate and adaptive immune responses by displaying bits of foreign antigen that they have ingested and processed
describe lymphocytes
-lymphocytes and their derivative plasma cells are the key cells that mediate the specific adaptive immune response of the body
-the adult body contains a trillion lymphocytes at any one time
- only 5% of these are found in the circulation, where they constitute 20-35% of all white blood cells
-Most lymphocytes are found in lymphoid tissues, where they are especially likely to encounter invaders
Where does white blood cell development (or haematopoiesis) begin?
-in the bone marrow under the influence of cytokines called colony-stimulating factors and interleukins