BIOL-1040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Passive Immunity, Extracellular Fluid, Antigen
28 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
A series of defenses that: act immediately upon infection, are the same whether the pathogen has been encountered before. Invertebrates rely solely on innate immunity which may consist of: exoskeleton, low ph, enzymes-lysozyme, immune cells capable of phagocytosis, cellular ingestion and digestion of foreign substances. Innate external barriers: skin/exoskeleton, acidic environment, secretions, mucous membranes, hair, cilia. If external barriers breach then innate internal defenses include: phagocytic cells, natural killer cells, defensive proteins, and inflammatory response. Innate immunity in vertebrates includes: skin and mucous membranes, interferons, neutrophils-phagocytic cells, natural killer cells that attack cancer cells and virus-infected cells, macrophages, complement system. Tissue damage triggers the inflammatory response: can disinfect and clean infected tissues, limit the spread of infection to surrounding tissues. Bacterial infections can bring about an overwhelming systemic inflammatory response leading to septic shock: high fever and low blood pressure. Sometimes microorganisms get into the blood or release toxins that are carried throughout the body in the bloodstream.
