Innate immunity Flashcards
What is immunity
sucessful resistance to pathogens
What is innate immunity
Or known as natural immuntiy
Non specific, destroys pathogens in general not directed at a specific pathogen
It will not become more efficient after the first
encounter with the pathogen.
What are some barriers that we have for pathogens
Physical- skin, washing hands etc
Chemical- low ph of stomach, fatty acids, secretions
Biological barrier- secretions by microorgansims, competition of normal flora on skin surface
How does mucosal surfaces act as a good external defence (barrier) to pathogens
- Mucous traps pathogens not allow them to adhere to epithelial cells
- tears, saliva, urine wash pathogens away
- airway cilia push mucus with trapped particles to back of throat (mucocilliary clearance)
What is primary cilliary dyskinesia
Autosomnal recessive disorder
Cilia and flagella immotile
Due to gene mutation for motor protein dyenin (for the axoneme)
What are the defences in tissues for pathogens
innate and adaptive (cellular and humoral)
What are some mechanisms invlved in innate immunity
Phagocytes
Complement
inflammation
Interferons
NK
Extracellular killing
How do phagocytes recognise molecule on pathogen
They dont recognise a specific molecule but rather a general carbohydrate profile.
This is done by PATTERN RECOGNITION RECEPTORS
Belong to family of Toll like receptors
The engulf, fuse with lysosome, phagolysosome
After several minutes within phagolysosome, what happens to the microorganism
Inability for microorganism to reproduce
Inhibition of macromolecular synthesis
What are the 2 killing mechanism that phagocytes use
Oxygen dependent pathway- generate oxygen reactive species eg hydrogen peroxide/ superoxide radicals. Reacts with proteins, lipids to kill
Oxygen independent pathway- lysosomal enzymes destroy eg proteases, phospholipases, nucleases and lysozymes.- breaks down cell membrane- less effective than oxy dep.
What are the 2 types of phagocytes
neutrophils-small, segemnted nucleus, short lived
Macrophages-larger, non segment nucleus, long live
What is the mononuclear phagocyte system
After a short while, monocytes will stop circulating and settle in tissues as resident macrophages
They have different names in tissues
Blood=monocytes
Lung=Alveolar macrophages
Liver= Kupffer cells
brain=microglia
bones=osteaclaasts
skin=langerhans cells (dentritic cells)
What is extracellular killing
It is used when the target is too large for phagocytosis. Two cell types are
specialized for it: the eosinophils and the NK cells.
What do eoisinopjhis do in extracellular killing
KILL PARASITES BY DEGRANULATION
- have many granules (lysoomes) and deliver it by exocytosis
- They defend against helminthic attacks
- antibodies and complement proteins stimulate degranulation
What do natural killer cells do in extracellular killing
NK CELLS KILL OUR OWN CELLS BY APOPTOSIS
- type of lymphocyte
- They detect virus-infected cells and some cancer cells
by pattern-recognition receptors. - Extracellular killing of our own cells is called CYTOLYSIS OR CYTOTOXICITY
- Macrophages (dendritic cells) can secret tumour necrosis facotr to stimulate apoptosis (cytolysis)