YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: FROM MONOCYTES TO MACROPHAGE
The neutrophils and monocyte/macrophages don’t remain in the blood stream for long. Soon, they squeeze through tiny pores in the blood vessels, holes smaller than they are. How do they fit? Through a process called diapedesis, which means pushing small parts of themselves through the pore at a time, much the same way you’d work a half-filled water balloon through a hole in a fence.
When they arrive in the tissue, the monocytes begin to grow, swelling to four or five times their original size. As they grow they become more and more powerful, developing extra energy sources and poison packets. Pretty soon, they’re giant-sized. To match their new stature comes a new name: macrophage, which means “giant eater.”
And giant eaters they are. Neutrophils can only swallow and destroy 5 to 20 antigens before they die of “overeating.” The giant eaters, however can gobble up as many as 100 antigens. And they eat and kill bigger antigens than the smaller neutrophils do. In fact, one of the macrophages’ jobs is to help clear the battlefield by eating up dead neutrophils.
There are still more differences between the two kinds of cell eaters. While the neutrophils are constantly on patrol, most of the macrophages stand guard at strategic points in the body. There they remain, giant sentries, for months or even years, our first line of defense against antigens.
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March 10, 2010
Your Immune System- From Monocytes To Macrophage
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