Phagocytosis blood cells

White blood cell preferentially located near potential entry sites for microbial pathogens and specialized for the uptake of particulate material by phagocytosis. Most macrophages originate from peripheral blood monocytes and are able to leave the circulation following stimulation by chemotactic agents. 

Holloway J, Scheuhammer AM, Chan HM. 2003. Assessment of white blood cell phagocytosis as an immunological indicator of methyhnercury exposure in birds. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 44 493-501. 

Figure 4 Stabilized bromine antimicrobials are produced by eosinophils, a type of mammalian white blood cell. Bacteria are captured by phagocytosis and contained intracellularly within vesicles called phagosomes. Granules release cationic surfactants, lytic enzymes, and eosinophil peroxidase into the phagosome in a process known as degranulation. Eosinophil peroxidase, an enzyme that is structurally similar to the bromoperoxidases found in seaweed (Figure I), selectively catalyzes oxidation of bromide to hypobromite by reducing hydrogen peroxide to water. The hypobromite immediately reacts with nitrogenous stabilizers such as aminoethanesulfonic acid (taurine) to form more effective and less toxic antimicrobial agents.

Compared with phagocytosis, pinocytosis appears to be a universal phenomenon in all cells, including phagocytes. Unlike phagocytosis, which is mediated by the serum opsonin, pinocytosis does not require any external stimulus. Pinocytosis is divided into two types fluid-phase pinocytosis and adsorptive pinocytosis (see Fig. 3B). Fluid-phase pinocytosis is a nonspecific, continuous process, and it is believed to be useful as a general process for transporting macromolecular constructs through epithelia, some endothelia, and into various blood cells. Adsorptive pinocytosis, in... 

In general, virus receptors carry out normal functions in the cell. For example, in bacteria some phage receptors are pili or flagella, others are cell-envelope components, and others are transport binding proteins. The receptor for influenza vims is a glycoprotein found on red blood cells and on cells of the mucous membrane of susceptible animals, whereas the receptor site of poliovirus is a lipoprotein. However, many animal and plant viruses do not have specific attachment sites at all and the vims enters passively as a result of phagocytosis or some other endocytotic process. 

The effect of echinacea on the immune system is controversial. In vivo human studies using commercially marketed formulations of E purpurea have shown increased phagocytosis, total circulating white blood cells, monocytes, neutrophils, and natural killer cells but not immunostimulation. In vitro, Epurpurea juice increased production of interleukins-1, -6, and -10, and tumor necrosis factor- by human macrophages. Enhanced natural killer cell activity and antibody-dependent cellular toxicity was also observed with E purpurea extract in cell lines from both healthy and immunocompromised patients. Studies using the isolated purified polysaccharides from Epurpurea have also shown cytokine activation. Polysaccharides by themselves, however, are unlikely to accurately reproduce the activity of the entire extract. 

IgG or IgM antibodies direct the immune response toward the antigen located on a cell (e.g., a red blood cell or thrombocyte). Macrophages, NK cells, and neutrophils are recruited by the antibodies to the site of the antigen on the cell surface and destroy the cell by phagocytosis or lysis. Additionally, complement activation will damage the cell (Fig. 6.32). The result, for example, where red cells are the targets is hemolytic anemia. 

Substances ingested into cells by any of these three mechanisms either are stored in vesicles inside the cell or are degraded by intracellular enzymes, and only certain cells are capable of either process. The endothelial cells of capillaries are capable of pinocytosis. Neutrophils and macrophages (specific types of white blood cells) are capable of phagocytosis. Phagocytosis, endocytosis, and pinocytosis are slow and inefficient when compared to the other processes by which substances enter cells. 

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