Immune system introduction

As mentioned in the introduction, various reviews over the last ten years show that many plants contain bioactive polysaccharides. Most of the plants studied were chosen due to their traditional use for different kinds of illnesses where the immune system could be involved. The following section will describe the pectic type polymers from the plants most studied for their structure, and activities related to the structure where possible. 

Smallpox—Virus infection that causes fever and skin eruptions, frequently fatal. Smallpox has been eradicated by worldwide campaigns to vaccinate, making the body s immune system able to resist infection by the introduction beneath the skin of a small amount of a harmless form of the virus. 

Hofmeyr SA. 1997. An overview of the immune system, http //www.cs.unm.edu/ immsec/html-imm/introduction.html. Retrieved 8/7/07. 

In addition to malaria, several other serious infections may occur in humans due to parasitic invasion by protozoa.2,44 Severe intestinal infections (dysentery) produced by various protozoa occur quite frequently, especially in areas where contaminated food and drinking water are prevalent. Infections in tissues such as the liver, heart, lungs, brain, and other organs may also occur because of protozoal infestation. As mentioned in this chapter s introduction, individuals with a compromised immune system may be especially susceptible to these intestinal and extraintestinal infections.2,70... 

As previously stated, immunization is a phenomenon mediated by cells of the immune system and normally is the result of a blood-borne challenge by antigen. The route of introduction can be very important in determining how well the individual will respond to an antigen. 

It is not the purpose of this short introduction to psychoneuroimmunology to give a comprehensive view of the immune system, and readers are referred to the key references cited at the end of the book. 

Abstract This chapter attempts to give an overview on the properties of the intestinal epithelium with regard to both, barriers to transcellular (transporter and efflux systems) and paracellular (tight junctional complex) drug absorption and transport systems and tight junction modulation. A short introduction into the relation between the innate immune system and modulation of paracellular permeability is equally given. 

Since antibiotics are prohibited, the attention to a clean and dry environment for the animal is critical. The key is the ounce of prevention. If a cow lies in a wet, manure-laden stall every day, the chance of bacterial introduction to the udder increases 10-fold. However this is easily changed in most cases, and becomes the strongest asset to a clean herd. If a cow becomes infected with mastitis, there is a choice of many isolated natural whey antibodies, which when injected boost her immune system to fight the infection. Vitamin C is also widely used on animals suffering from infection. Antibiotics are used in extreme cases, and the animal cannot return to the organic production line, although her life is spared. In many cases the producers sell the animal to a neighbour or to a local stockyard. 

Active acquired immunity (Chapter 8) relatesto exposure of the immune system to antigenic materials. Such exposure might be related to a naturally occurring or vaccine-associated infection, or it might be associated with the direct introduction of non-... 

Immunotoxicology is the study of the adverse health effects of xenobi-otics on the immune system. A thorough review of the immune system and immunotoxicology is beyond the scope of this book. The following is a brief outline. The reader is referred to the literature referenced for good introductions to this topicJ19 21l... 

Part I contains an introduction, a discussion of chemical toxicology and mechanisms of chemical absorption and of interaction with various body tissues on macro and molecular levels. Also discussed are the body s protective responses to xenobiotic intrusion, including metabolism, immune system, and endocrine system actions. 

In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction to immune system and FA nomenclature. The effects of dietary FAs on the number and activity of the cells of the immune system is a main focal point. We emphasize the results of human studies and discuss animal studies as a means to understand some of the proposed mechanisms by which FAs alter immune functions. The amount of published information for various topics can be quite different, and thus, the amount of detail given varies. Further details can be found in individual papers cited or other reviews regarding the effect of dietary FAs on immune functions (Calder and Grimble, 2002 De Pablo and De Cienfuegos, 2000 Harbige, 2003 Yaqoob and Calder, 2003). 

Antibody A protein produced by the immune system in response to the introduction of an antigen. 

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