Functional anatomy Flashcards
What are leukocytes?
Cells of the immune response
Do most immune responses take place in tissues or blood?
Tissues
Blood is simply a transmit system
What are the two types of lymphoid tissue that are involved in the activation and production of IR?
Primary lymphoid organ - where lymphocytes are produced at all times
Secondary lymphoid organ - active when IR is triggered
What are the primary lymphoid tissues?
Bone marrow
Thymus
What cells give rise to cells T and B cells?
Haematopoietic stem cells
What happens in the bone marrow and thymus?
T and B cells undergo education by maturation
Antigen-specific
Can recognise antigens from pathogens and damaged cells
Educated to only recognise pathogenic cells - prevent autoimmunity
What are the secondary lymphoid organs?
Spleen - deals with antigens in the blood
MALT - deals with antigens on mucosal surfaces
Lymph nodes - deals with antigens present on tissues draining into local lymph nodes
Which of the lymphoid organs are encapsulated?
Spleen
Lymph nodes
What does MALT stand for?
Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues
In which state do T cells enter the thymus?
As double-negative
Don’t express CD4 nor CD8
Following which process do T cells become double positive?
Thymic education
What is a double positive T cell?
Express both CD4 and CD8 genes on their surface
How is the large variety of TCRs produced?
Through random recombination of genes
Millions of possible combinations
What are the two stages of thymic education?
Positive selection
Negative selection
Explain the process of positive selection of T cells in the thymus
Positive selection selects working TCRs
Happens in the cortex of the thymus
T cells have default system of apoptosis so they are destined to die
If the T cells react weakly or do not bind to MHC - don’t receive survival signals
If interacts with MHC I = CD8
If interacts with MHC II = CD4
Explain the process of negative selection of T cells in the thymus
Prevents autoimmunity
Happens in the medulla of the thymus
CD4 or CD8 cells have default system of survival
If the TCRs bind to self-MHCs or self-peptides too stronly they receive apoptotic signal
What is the main goal of positive selection?
Select working TCRs
Where does positive selection take place?
In the cortex of the thymus
What is the main goal of negative selection?
Prevent autoimmunity
Where does negative selection take place?
In the medulla of the thymus
What percentage of T cells arriving from the thymus are allowed to recirculate lymphoid tissues?
2%
Where do antigen specific lymphocytes circulate?
Circulatory system
Lymphatic system