Inflammatory Response Flashcards
What are the innate non-specific defences?
Structural barriers
White blood cells
Antimicrobial proteins
Inflammatory response
What are the cells of the non-specific response?
Phagocytic cells
Non-phagocytic cells
What are the characteristics of a non-specific response?
Innate
Against anything foreign
Always the same
What are two examples of non-specific responses?
Inflammatory response
Acute phase response
What is the inflammatory response?
The normal response to tissue injury with various types of inflammation
What are the signs of acute inflammation?
Redness
Heat
Pain
Swelling
What does acute inflammation involve?
Dilation of small blood vessels
Increased blood flow
Increased permeability
Cell recruitment & migration
What cells are involved in chronic inflammation?
Macrophages
Lymphocytes
What are the mediators of the inflammatory response?
Vasoactive amines
Arachadonic acid metabolites
Complement and other systems
Cytokines
What is the complement system?
A series of proteins in plasma that can be activated by antibodies or bacterial components
What are the products of the complement system?
Opsonins
Anaphylatoxins
Chemotactic factors
Attack complexes
What are the functions of cytokines?
Chemotaxis
Cellular proliferation, differentiation & activation
What are the 5 stages of cell recruitment and migration?
Margination Adhesion Migration Chemotaxis Phagocytosis
What is the acute phase response?
A whole body response to infection that occurs within minutes
What does the acute phase response lead to?
Increased number of blood neutrophils
Increased production of acute phase proteins
What is an immunogen?
Something that stimulates a specific immune response
What is an epitope?
The part of an immunogen recognised by a small lymphocyte; to which an antibody binds
What are the two lymphocytes?
B and T lymphocytes
What is clonal selection and expansion?
When a small lymphocyte binds to an epitope and proliferate and differentiate
What are antibodies?
They are specific to each epitope and bind to them to stimulate removal of immunogens
What is self non-self discrimination?
Deletion of lymphocytes that have receptors that can specifically bind to ‘self’ epitopes
What is immune tolerance?
A state of unresponsiveness of the immune system to substances/tissue that have the capacity to elicit an immune response
What are two examples of specific immune responses?
Humoral immunity
Cell-mediated immunity
What are the two sets of helper T lymphocytes?
Th1 that supports cell mediated immunity
Th2 that supports humoral immunity
What is an antigen?
Combines with the products of an immune response
How can the complement system be activated?
Classical pathway
Alternate pathway
What happens when a small lymphocyte binds to an epitope?
The cell undergoes clonal expansion
