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Epithelial cells form a layer that line several organs of the body providing a barrier to the outside world. In other words, the epithelial cells help to protect or enclose the organs. Epithelial cells are held together by tight junctions, which form a virtually impermeable barrier to prevent leakage of fluid (including molecules and ions) across the …
These feisty granulocytes will defeat any bacteria, fungus or parasite that wants to mess with them. Check out the full blog post on granulocytes to lear more about each one of these cells.
A big challenge of the immune system in the intestine is being able to distinguish between harmful pathogens and at the same time be tolerant towards harmless antigens derived from food and commensal bacteria (good bacteria). Mechanisms to maintain tolerance are therefore necessary to avoid unwanted immune responses that may lead to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) …
A virus is a small infectious agent that needs other cells to replicate. The virus gets its genetic material inside the cell and the cell then uses its machinery to read the genetic code and create virus proteins that will form new viral particles. The cartoon is showing a cell that has been infected and …
Plant cells and animal cells are both eukaryotic cells. Even though they have a lot of similarities they are different. One of the differences that this cartoon is playing on is the ability of plant cells to generate their own glucose. This is made possible due to the chloroplasts. Animal cells on the other hand …
Neutrophil are the most abundant type of white blood cells and are part of the granulocyte family or the polymorphonuclear cells family. They get the name ‘polymorphonuclear cells’ because of the varying shapes of the nucleus, which is usually lobed into three segments. Neutrophils are the first cells to get to the site of infection, they …
Leukocyte extravasation is the movement of leukocytes out of the circulatory system and towards the site of tissue damage or infection. This process is regulated by a concerted action between endothelial cells and leukocytes, whereby endothelial cells activate leukocytes and direct them to extravasation sites, and leukocytes in turn instruct endothelial cells to open a …
Dendritic cells (DCs) are named after their branched projections called dendrites. These cells are the sentinels of the immune system and are always testing their surroundings in case they see any danger. DCs process antigens they pick up from their surrounding and present these to T cells. This video shows how dendritic cells …
T cells are named after the organ they develop in, the Thymus. Cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) are a special type of T cells with the ability to kill other cells. Usually they kill cells that have been infected with a virus. This way the virus can no longer use these cells for replicating inside of …
Macrophages are white blood cells. The word macrophage comes from the word macros “large” and phagein “eat”. Macrophages are big cells that eat.One of their main roles of these cells is to phagocytose (engulf and then digest) cellular debris and also pathogens such as bacteria. This process is known as PHAGOCYTOSIS. It is a complex mechanism …