Glossary Ch 3

Question 1

Acute-phase reactants

Answer 1

Normal serum proteins that increase rapidly as a result of infection, injury, or trauma to the tissues

Question 2

Alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT)

Answer 2

An acute-phase protein that acts as an inhibitor of proteases released from WBCs

Question 3

Antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC)

Answer 3

The process of destroying antibody-coated target cells by natural killer cells, monocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils, all of which have specific receptors for an antibody

Question 4

Ceruloplasmin

Answer 4

An acute-phase reactant that acts as the principal copper-transporting protein in human plasma

Question 5

Chemotaxis

Answer 5

The migration of cells in the direction of a chemical messenger

Question 6

Complement

Answer 6

A series of proteins which are normally present in serum and whose overall functions are mediation of inflammation and destruction of foreign cells

Question 7

C-reactive protein

Answer 7

A trace constituent of serum that increases rapidly following infection or trauma to the body and acts as an opsonin to enhance phagocytosis

Question 8

Diapedesis

Answer 8

The process by which cells are capable of moving from the circulating blood to the tissues by squeezing through the wall of a blood vessel

Question 9

External defense system

Answer 9

Structural barriers that prevent most infectious agents from entering the body

Question 10

Fibrinogen

Answer 10

An acute-phase reactant that changes to fibrin and forms clots in the bloodstream

Question 11

Haptoglobin

Answer 11

An acute-phase reactant that binds irreversibly to free hemoglobin released by intravascular hemolysis

Question 12

Inflammation

Answer 12

Cellular and humoral mechanisms involved in the overall reaction of the body to injury or invasion by an infectious agent

Question 13

Innate immunity

Answer 13

The ability of the individual to resist infection by means of normally present body functions

Question 14

Internal defense system

Answer 14

Defense mechanism inside the body in which both cells and soluble factors play essential parts

Question 15

Opsonins

Answer 15

Serum proteins that attach to a foreign substance and enhance phagocytosis

Question 16

Oxidative bursts

Answer 16

An increase in oxygen consumption in phagocytic cells, which generate oxygen radicals used to kill engulfed microorganisms

Question 17

Pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)

Answer 17

Structural patterns of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, or bacterial peptides on microorganisms that are recognized by pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) on the cells of the innate immune system

Question 18

Pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs)

Answer 18

Receptors on cells of the innate immune system that bind to PAMPs on pathogenic microorganisms

Question 19

Phagocytosis

Answer 19

The engulfment of cells or particulate matter by leukocytes, macrophages, or other cells

Question 20

Phagolysosome

Answer 20

The structure formed by the fusion of cytoplasmic granules and a phagosome during the process of phagocytosis

Question 21

Phagosome

Answer 21

A vacuole formed within a phagocytic cell as pseudopodia surround a particle during the process of phagocytosis

Question 22

Serum amyloid A (SAA)

Answer 22

An acute-phase protein that acts as a chemical messenger to activate monocytes and macrophages in order to increase inflammation

Question 23

Toll-like receptor

Answer 23

Receptors found on human leukocytes and other cell types that recognize microorganisms and aid in their destruction