Immune System
&Integumentary System
What is the function of the immune system?
The immune system is the body's biological defense mechanism that protects against foreign invaders
How does the skin function as a defense against disease?
Skin is an external barrier. An animal's skin acts something like a protective wrapping that keeps disease-causing organisms out of the body. Normally, the skin is covered with untold numbers of organisms, some that are harmless, but others that can cause disease. Virtually none of these organisms has the ability to penetrate the skin. Only when the skin has been broken, as in a cut, can the organisms pass into the body.
What is the difference between a specific and nonspecific response?
Nonspecific responses are generalized responses to pathogen infection. They do not target a specific cell type. Specific responses are called into action when nonspecific methods are not enough and infection becomes widespread
What are the actions of B cells and T cells in an immune response?
B cells work chiefly by secreting substances called antibodies into the body’s fluids. Antibodies ambush foreign antigens circulating in the bloodstream. Unlike B cells, T cells do not recognize free-floating antigens. Rather, their surfaces contain specialized antibody-like receptors that see fragments of antigens on the surfaces of infected or cancerous cells. T cells contribute to immune defenses in two major ways: Some direct and regulate immune responses, whereas others directly attack infected or cancerous cell.
What is the relationship difference between vaccination and immunity?
Vaccination is when a vaccine is administered to you (usually by injection). Immunization is what happens in your body after you have the vaccination. The vaccine stimulates your immune system so that it can recognize the disease and protect you from future infection
What happens in an allergic response?
First, a person is exposed to an allergen by inhaling it, swallowing it, or getting it on their skin. After a person is exposed to the allergen, a series of events create the allergic response.
Examples of immune disorders:
- Psoriasis: In psoriasis, overactive immune system blood cells called T-cells collect in the skin. The immune system activity stimulates skin cells to reproduce rapidly, producing silvery, scaly plaques on the skin.
- Multiple Sclerosis: The immune system attacks nerve cells, causing symptoms that can include pain, blindness, weakness, poor coordination, and muscle spasms. The myelin sheath, which is a single cell whose membrane wraps around the axon, is destroyed with inflammation and scarring.
What is the main part of the integumentary system?
The integumentary system is the covering(skin). This most extensive organ system has the skin and accessory structures, including hair, nails, glands (sweat and sebaceous), and specialized nerve receptors for stimuli (changes in internal or external environment) such as touch, cold, heat, pain, and pressure. Its functions include protection of internal structures, prevention of entry of disease-causing microorganisms, temperature regulation, excretion through perspiration, pigmentary protection against ultraviolet sunrays, and production of vitamin D.
Antigen
Any substance that can stimulate the production of antibodies and combine specifically with them.
Antibody
A blood protein produced in response to a specific antigen. Antibodies combine chemically with substances that the body recognizes as alien, such as bacteria, viruses, and foreign substances in the blood.
Antibiotics
A large group of chemical substances having the capacity in dilute solutions to inhibit the growth of or to destroy bacteria and other microorganisms, used chiefly in the treatment of infectious diseases.
An antibiotic could be Linezolid which is a protein synthesis inhibitor.
B-cell
Any of the lymphocytes that mature in the bone marrow and, when stimulated by a particular antigen, differentiate into plasma cells.
Bone Marrow
The soft, fatty, vascular tissue that fills most bone cavities and is the source of red blood cells and many white blood cells.
Immune Response
The reaction of an organism's body to foreign materials (antigens), including the production of antibodies.
Immunology
The branch of biological science concerned with the study of immunity.
Inflammatory Response
A tissue reaction to injury or an antigen that may include pain, swelling, itching, redness, heat, and loss of function.
Lymphocyte
Any of the nearly colorless cells formed in lymphoid tissue, as in the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, and tonsils, constituting between 22 and 28 percent of all white blood cells in the blood of a normal adult human. They function in the development of immunity and include two specific types, B cells and T cells.
Leukocyte
A white blood cell protects the body against infection and fight infection when it occurs. They are bigger than red blood cells.
Macrophage
A large white blood cell, found primarily in the bloodstream and connective tissue, that helps the body fight off infections by ingesting the disease-causing organism. HIV can infect and kill macrophages.
T-cell
A principal type of white blood cell that completes maturation in the thymus and that has various roles in the immune system,including the identification of specific foreign antigens in the body and the activation and deactivation of other immune cells.
Thymus Gland
An organ of the lymphatic system located behind the upper sternum (breastbone). T cells develop and mature in the thymus before entering the circulation.
Vaccine
Any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production.