chapter 35 Flashcards
immunity
The human body has the ability to resist almost all types
of organisms or toxins that tend to damage the tissues
and organs. This capability is called immunity
acquired immunity
that does not develop
until after the body is first attacked by a bacterium,
virus, or toxin; often weeks or months are required
for the immunity to develop
This innate immunity makes the human body resistant
to
paralytic viral infections of
animals, hog cholera, cattle plague, and distemper—a viral disease that kills a large percentage of dogs that
become afflicted with it
humoral immunity or
B-cell immunity
the body develops
circulating antibodies, which are globulin molecules in
the blood plasma capable of attacking the invading agent.
This type of immunity is called humoral immunity or
B-cell immunity
cell-mediated immunity or T-cell immunity
The second type of acquired immunity is
achieved through formation of large numbers of activated
T lymphocytes that are specifically crafted in the lymph
nodes to destroy the foreign agent. This type of immunity
is called cell-mediated immunity or T-cell immunity
both type of lymphocytes are derived from
multipotent hematopoietic stem cells that form common lymphoid progenitor cells.
The Thymus Gland Preprocesses the T Lymphocytes.
The T lymphocytes, after origination in the bone marrow, first migrate to the thymus gland. Here they divide rapidly and at the same time develop extreme diversity for reacting against different specific antigens. That is, one thymic
lymphocyte develops specific reactivity against one antigen, and then the next lymphocyte develops specificity against another antigen. This process continues until there are thousands of different types of thymic lymphocytes with specific reactivities against many thousands of
different antigens
a clone
of lymphocytes.
All the different lymphocytes that are capable of
forming one specific antibody or T cell are called a clone
of lymphocytes
Role of Macrophages in the Activation
Most invading organisms are first phagocytized and partially digested by the macrophages, and the antigenic
products are liberated into the macrophage cytosol. The macrophages then pass these antigens by cell-to-cell
contact directly to the lymphocytes, thus leading to activation of the specified lymphocytic clones. The macrophages, in addition, secrete a special activating substance,
interleukin-1, that promotes still further growth and
reproduction of the specific lymphocytes.
Role of the T Cells in Activation of the B Lymphocytes
Some of the T cells that are
formed, called T-helper cells, secrete specific substances
(collectively called lymphokines) that activate the specific
B lymphocytes. Indeed, without the aid of these T-helper
cells, the quantity of antibodies formed by the B lymphocytes is usually slight.
Formation of Antibodies by Plasma Cells.
Before exposure to a specific antigen, the clones of B lymphocytes remain dormant in the lymphoid tissue. Upon entry
of a foreign antigen, macrophages in lymphoid tissue phagocytize the antigen and then present it to adjacent
B lymphocytes. In addition, the antigen is presented to T cells at the same time, and activated T-helper cells are formed. These helper cells also contribute to extreme activation of the B lymphocytes, as discussed later. The B lymphocytes specific for the antigen immediately enlarge and take on the appearance of lymphoblasts. Some of the lymphoblasts further differentiate to form
plasmablasts, which are precursors of plasma cells. In the plasmablasts, the cytoplasm expands and the rough endoplasmic reticulum vastly proliferates. The plasmablasts then begin to divide at a rate of about once every 10 hours
for about nine divisions, giving in 4 days a total population of about 500 cells for each original plasmablast. The mature plasma cell then produces gamma globulin antibodies at an extremely rapid rate—about 2000 molecules per second for each plasma cell
formation of memory cells
A few of the lymphoblasts formed by activation of a clone
of B lymphocytes do not go on to form plasma cells but
instead form moderate numbers of new B lymphocytes similar to those of the original clone. In other words, the B-cell population of the specifically activated clone becomes greatly enhanced, and the new B lymphocytes are added to the original lymphocytes of the same clone. They also circulate throughout the body to populate all the lymphoid tissue; immunologically, however, they remain dormant until activated once again by a new
quantity of the same antigen. These lymphocytes are called memory cells
what gives antigen its specificity
the structural organization of amino acids in the variable chain of antibody
5 classes of antibodies
IgM IgG IgE IgD IgE
MOST important immunoglobins of body
IgG which constitute 75% of antibodies in body are bivalent
IgE which constitute a small percentage but are involved in allergic reactions
IgM are made during primary response and have 10 binding sites so they play a major role