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FCS > The Immune System > Flashcards

The Immune System Flashcards

1
Q

what is involved in the immune system?

(6)

A
  • lymph nodes
  • lymph vessels
  • lymphocytes
  • bone marrow
  • white blood cells
  • skin or mucous membranes
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2
Q

How many white cell types are there and what are they?

A

5

  • Monocytes
  • Lymphocytes
  • Neutrophil
  • Basophil
  • Eosinophil
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3
Q

Phagocytes

A

the major innate immune cells act as the first line of defense against microorganisms. The important phagocytes are monocytes and macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, and dendritic cells.

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4
Q

Macrophages

(means big eater)

A

specialised cells involved in the detection, phagocytosis and destruction of bacteria and other harmful organisms. In addition, they can also present antigens to T cells and initiate inflammation by releasing molecules (known as cytokines) that activate other cells.

devrived from monocytes WBC that have moved out of the blood stream to occupy tissue.

can be free types, which can move to look for creepers in tissues or fixed types, which are attached to fibres in specific organs, engulfing anything suspicious which passes them.

has cytoplasmic extension to attach and reels in pathogens them engulfs it, digests it and releases the waste out.

can do over and over again.

The cytoplasm of a macrophage contains vacuoles and granules that are basophilic in nature. The nucleus is ovoid

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5
Q

Monocytes

A

They are produced in the bone marrow and then enter the bloodstream. They fight certain infections and help other white blood cells remove dead or damaged cells and fight cancer cells.
Has a nucleus that is big and rounded (or indented)

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6
Q

lymphocytes

A

white cells that are crucial to our immune systems. There are three main types known as T cells, B cells, and natural killer cells. Lymphocytes are part of our immune defense and act to recognize antigens, produce antibodies, and destroy cells that could cause damag

have a large nucleus that almost fills the cell

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7
Q

Neutrophils

A

help prevent infections by blocking, disabling, digesting, or warding off invading particles and microorganisms. They also communicate with other cells to help them repair cells and mount a proper immune response. engulfs pathogens.

granulocytes with many particles and multi lobed nucleus.

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8
Q

basophils

A

hey have the ability to help detect and destroy some early cancer cells. Another important function of basophils is that they release the histamine in their granules during an allergic reaction or asthma attack.

granulocyte with lobed nucleus; involved in allergic reactions

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9
Q

Eosinphil

A

functions include: movement to inflamed areas, trapping substances, killing cells, anti-parasitic and bactericidal activity, participating in immediate allergic reactions, and modulating inflammatory responses.

granulocyte with b-shaped nucleus; destroys antigen-antibody complexes

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10
Q

Natural killer cells

(NK cells)

A

Patrol blood and lymph looking for abnormal cells and can kill your own cells if they are infected with viruses or have become cancerous. they can tell if cells are damanged as healthy cells hace a special protein calle MHC1 on its surface. If cell is infected then this protein is stop being made.

if NK cell detects an infected cell it pokes it with an enzyme that triggers apoptosis.

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11
Q

Innate (no-specific) defence system

A

first point of contact.

involves external barricades

including:

  • skin
  • mucous membranes

involves internal defences

including:

  • phagocytes
  • antimicrobial proteins
  • attack cells
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12
Q

adaptive (specific) defence system

A

2nd point of contact

goes after specific targets

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13
Q

skin

A

allows it to resist infections from pathogens. In addition to providing a passive physical barrier against infection

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14
Q

mucuous membranes

A

has three main functions: (i) to protect the mucous membranes against colonization and invasion by potentially dangerous microbes that may be encountered, (ii) to prevent uptake of undegraded antigens including foreign proteins derived from ingested food, airborne matter and commensal.

where: nasal cavity, mucosa of mouth, epithelial lining and

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15
Q

chemical defences of skin and mucosa

A
  1. ACID FROM SKIN, STOMACH, AND VAGINAL
    SECRETIONS
  2. MUCIN THAT FORMS MUCUS IN THE
    RESPIRATORY AND DIGESTIVE PASSAGEWAYS,
  3. ENZYMES FOUND IN SALIVA, MUCUS, AND EYE
    FLUID THAT FIGHT BACTERIA,
  4. DEFENSINS, OR ANTIMICROBIAL PROTEINS
    5, OTHER CHEMICALS FOUND IN SWEAT THAT
    DESTROY BACTERIA.
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16
Q

Internal innate defence

A

Internal Defenses. When pathogens enter the body, the innate immune system responds with a variety of internal defenses. These include the inflammatory response, phagocytosis, natural killer cells, and the complement system

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17
Q

Inflammatory response

A

occurs when tissues are injured by bacteria, trauma, toxins, heat, or any other cause. The damaged cells release chemicals including histamine, bradykinin, and prostaglandins. These chemicals cause blood vessels to leak fluid into the tissues, causing swelling, redness, heat and pain.

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18
Q

mast cells

A

releases histamine as part of the inflammatory response.

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19
Q

histamine in the inflammatory response

A

causes vasodilation, which causes redness and heat of the injury site. increased temperature actually increases metabolic rate so you damanged area can be repaired quicker.

histamines and other inflammatory chemicals also increase the permability of blood vessels causing nearby capillaries to release protein - rich fluids - this causes swelling. this is good as the released proteins help to clot blood and form scabs, while the lymphatic system sucks up and filters the extra fluid, cleaning it before it enters the bloodstream.

phagocytes then travel to the site of infection travel out of the leaky capillaries to do its job

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20
Q

leukocytosis

A

triggered when injured area releases chemicals. this begins leukocytosis.

leukocytosis releases neutrophils from the bone marrow where they’re made into the bloodstream.

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21
Q

how are neutrophils attracted to the injured site

A

inflamed endothelial cells in the capillaries send out chemicals that attract and direct neutropils to the damaged area. when they arrive they cling to the capillary walls near the injury, flatten themselves and squeeze through the vessel walls to do their role.

22
Q

what happens after neutrophils have arrived at the site of injury?

A

Monocytes arrive and transform into macrophages. they then replace the neutrophils that are now dead and engulf any pathogens left over and then clean any waste.

23
Q

what happens if the WBCs or macrophages can’t handle how many pathogens there are?

A

they release pyrogen chemicals that trigger the hypothalamus to raise the body temperature. this then triggers the body to have a fever and therefore burn everything. temperatyre rise also increases metabolism of cells so they can heal faster and also tells the liver and spleen to hold onto all of its iron and zinc, so they can contribute to bacterial growth.

24
Q

adaptive immune defence

A

occurs when everything else before hasnt managed to get rid of all the pathogens.

25
Q

differences between innate and adaptive immune system?

A
  • adaptive has the ability to remember specific pathogens.
  • adaptive system is systemic - can fight infection throughout the whole body at once rather than just a grazed knee (for example in the innate system). adaptive does this by using one or both of its seperate but cooperating defenses: Humoral immunity and cellular defences.
  • has a memory
26
Q

Humoral immunity

A

releases antibodies

aspect of immunity that is mediated by macromolecules - including secreted antibodies, complement proteins, and certain antimicrobial peptides - located in extracellular fluids. Humoral immunity is named so because it involves substances found in the humors, or body fluids.

27
Q

antibodies

A
  • made by special WBC called B lymphocytes (or B cells)
  • Patrol the bodies “humors”, which is fluid like blood and lymph, where they combat viruses and bacteria moving around the intersitial space between the cells.
  • a protein produced by the body’s immune system when it detects harmful substances, called antigens
28
Q

Antigen

A

Any substance that causes the body to make an immune response against that substance. Antigens include toxins, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, or other substances that come from outside the body. Body tissues and cells, including cancer cells, also have antigens on them that can cause an immune response.

29
Q

b lymphocytes

A

made from stem cells in the bone marrow and mature in bone marrow too. As it matures dvelops the ability immunocompetence (how to recognise and bind to a particular antigen) and also developed self tolerance (knows how to not attack body’s own cells)

once fully matured displays at least 10,000 special protein receptors, these are its membrane bound antibodies. every B lmphocyte has this but they have their own unique antibodies, which are ready to indentify and bind to a particular kind of antigen.

they then colonise secondary lymphoid organs once fully matured, such as lymph nodes and then start roaming around in your blood and lymph.

as they all have unique antibodies, they are all specific to certain antigens.

30
Q

how is a b cell activated and what happens?

A

specific antibody binds to the antigen specific to it, usually in the lymph node or spleen. Full power of humural immune response is triggered. this activates the b cell, and then the b cell starts cloning itself quickly to produce an army of b cells with the exact same antibodies.

most of the clones become effector cells , which are active fighters of the antigen.

few become long lived memory cells that preserve the genetic code of that specific antibody incase it was to return again

31
Q

what do memory cells prepare for?

A

if the body is re-exposed to the same antigen then a secondary response occurs. this is much faster as the memory cells are still alert and ready to fight back.

32
Q

effector cells

A

b cells that have been cloned to fight a specific antigen. Packed with extra endoplasmic reticulum, which can mass-produce the same antibodies over and over again for the specific invader. releasing the antibodies into the humour at a rate of around 2,000 antibodies per second for 4 or 5 days before they die. these antibodies are exactly the same as the membrane bound ones but are just free floating.

33
Q

antibodies and neutralisation

A

most common and effective strategy of antibodies. the antibodies physically block the binding sites on viruses or bacterial toxins so they cant bind to healthy tissue.

34
Q

Agglutination

A

when antibodies bind to multiple antigens as they have multiple binding sites causing the antigens to ‘stick’ together.

These clumps cant get around easily making it easier for macrophages to come and gobble them up

35
Q

how does the humoral response allow the body to achieve immunity?

A

by encountering pathogens either randomly or on purpose.

36
Q

vaccinations

A

most are made from dead or weakened pathogen. triggers the secondary immiune response so the bosy can fight quickly if the real pathogen was to enter the body.

37
Q

passive immunity

A

when the antibodies are given rather than made by the body itself. e.g. babies being given ready made antibodies through the placenta or through breast milk.

works well for a few months, because obtained antibodies dont live long in their new body and they can’t produce effector cells or memory cells from this process. thereforethe baby’s system wont remember the antigen complementary to the antibody if it gets infected with it.

38
Q

artificial passive immunity

A

recieving someone elses antibodies from the plasma of an immune donor.

helped to save lives when people who survived the ebola virus blood plasma was made into a serum and injected into infected health care workers and patients. helps the body to start fighting the infection quickly, whilst making there own antibodies for it.

39
Q

T lymphocytes (T cells)

A

go after body cells that have been either hijacked by viruses or bacteria or become cancerous. t cells cause inflammation, activate macrophages, get other t cells fired up and regulate much of the immune response.

can’t detect whole antigens, can only recognise them on an antigen presenting cell.

made in bone marrow

mature in the thymus

40
Q

5 types of T cells

A
  • helper
  • cytotoxic
  • memory
  • suppressor
  • natural killer
41
Q

major histocompatibility complexes

(MHCs)

A

when a phagocyte engulfs a pathogen and breaks it into tiny molecules and then attaches these molecules in grooved proteins on its outer membrane.

42
Q

professional antigen presenting cells

A

cells that display major histocompatibility complexes from the pathogen its engulfed

Professional antigen presenting cells (APC), i.e., dendritic cells (DC), monocytes/macrophages, and B lymphocytes, are critically important in the recognition of an invading pathogen and presentation of antigens to the T cell-mediated arm of immunity.

43
Q

MHC 1

A

MHC displayed on every nucleated cell in the body.

MHC 1 proteins present short chains of amino acids that are based on endogenous proteins, (proteins that are synthesised in that cell). tells immune cells if the cell is healthy or not.

so if a cell is cancerous and making abnormal proteins, these proteins are attached to its MHC 1 to alert immune cells there’s a problem inside the cell to therefore kill the cell through apoptosis

44
Q

MHC 2

A

present on Macrophages, denditic cells and b cells.

bind to fragments of exogenous antigens like a virus thats been engulfed, broken up and displayed to get the attention of other cells. cant actually detect a whole cell.

45
Q

helper T cells

A

cant kill , but raises the alarm to tell other immune cells there is a problem by releasing chemical messengers called cytokines. can activate cells that do and help to trigger these for the whole adaptive immune response

has receptors that will only bind to one specific combination of a class 2 MHC and a particular antigen. Helper T bonds to the MHC antigen bit and gets activated. Helper T then copies itself lots of other clones , making few memory cells which remember the antigen and then produces lots of effector T cells mostly more helper T cells and some regulatoty T cells

46
Q

cytotoxic cells

A

roam through the blood and lymph, looking for body cells that have been hijacked and need to be killed through their MHC 1 protein that has the damanged protein on. if a cytotoxic T cell with the right receptor floats by, it binds to the antigen-MHC combination and moves in to kill. It does this by releasing special enzymes that punch holes in the cell membrane triggering apoptosis. The cytoxic cell then moves along to find other cells to kill.

47
Q

cytokines

A

chemical messengers release by helper T cells. when a cytokine enters another helper t cell, the cell starts to divide to produce more helper T cells and memory T cells, which release more cytokines that keep boosting the signal.

some of the cytokines go on to help activate the cytotoxic T cells

cytokines also finish the training of the B cells

48
Q

immunodeficiencies

A

also known as immunocompromisation, is a state in which the immune system’s ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired (“secondary”) due to extrinsic factors that affect the patient’s immune system

49
Q

AIDS

A

caused by the human immunodeficiency virus that specifically attcks helper T cells, there wouldnt be much of a humoral response as b cells wouldnt be activated either.

as antibody receptors are generated randomly , its possible to end up with B cells that could bind to your own healty proteins.

50
Q

overeactive immune system

A

If you are born with certain genes, your immune system may react to substances in the environment that are normally harmless. These substances are called allergens. Having an allergic reaction is the most common example of an overactive immune system.

51
Q

Regulatory T cells

A

type of effector

helps to prevent body from turning on its own body cells by releasing inhibiting cytokines that tell other immune cells to stop killing cells once the initial threat has been dealt with. without this the body might try and damange its own cells and tissue.

52
Q

conditions where the body starts to attack its own healthy body cells.

A
  • multiple sclerosis - eats away at the myelin sheaths around neurons
  • type one diabetes - tears up the pancreatic cells that make insulin

FCS (8 decks)

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