The Immune System

A simple introduction to the variety of mechanisms used by

our bodies to combat disease

By Margi Friedman

Why are we interested?

Has anyone in the room ever experienced an illness?

What is an immune system?

What impact does the past study of immunology have on us today?

What possible outcomes could arise from further study of the immune system?

Immune System Vocabulary

Immune System

Immunity

Innate (non-specific) Immunity

Adaptive (specific) Immunity

Antigens

Humoral Immune Response

Cell mediated Immune response

•Pathogens

•Macrophage

•Phagocytosis

•Lymphocytosis

•Lymphocyte

•B Lymphocyte

•T Lymphocyte

•Antibodies

Mechanisms of Defense

Non-specific Responses: The innate immunity that we are born with. Includes the skin, mucous membranes, tears, saliva, and complement system responsible for inflammation & histamine response.

Specific Responses: The immunity we acquire through exposure to antigens. Immunity is acquired through the Humeral response & Cell-mediated response .

Non-specific Responses

Mucous Membranes

(physical barriers)

THE SKIN

Dead skin(physical barrier)

Secretion of Bacterial Growth Inhibitor

(chemical barrier)

Tears & Saliva

Enzymes break down bacterial

walls(chemical barrier)

Non Specific Response Compliment System

Non-Specific ResponseMast Cells Activated

http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/inflammatory.html

Specific (Acquired) ResponseHumoral and Cell Mediated

How are we doing so far?

Share of the differences between specific and non-specific immunity?

How many people in the class have had an immunization?

How does vaccination work?

An assessment of what you know is a click away. Click on the document on the bottom right to open an assessment of what we’ve learned so far.

Document

The Humoral response creates Antibodies

So, how do antibodies work?

B-lyphocytes interact with antigens to trigger the production of Antibody-

secreting plasma cells.

Pathogen/Antigen

A pathogen is the microorganism capable of producing disease

An antigen is the protein on the surface of a pathogen that our bodies recognize as a foreign substance & triggers our immune system to respond.

There are two main classifications of pathogens that we will look at: Bacteria & Viruses

How vaccination works

The immune system is exposed to an antigen in a form that it can easily combat.

This exposure triggers the Humoral response and activates B-Lymphocytes to begin a process that results in antibody production and memory of the antigen exposure.

A cellular memory is created so the body can quickly respond with huge amounts of antibody should that antigen show up again.

Do you feel vaccination should be a requirement for everyone?

When the Immune System isn’t enough

Medical treatment options exist as a result of years of research and development into our immune systems.

What are some of the effective treatments you’ve heard of in regards to various diseases?

Do you think someone with a compromised immune system, or an immune system that doesn’t operate very well, should receive vaccinations?

What about people with compromised immune systems?

People with immune systems that are compromised (for example a person with AIDS), are not able to generate an effective response because of the fact their B-lymphocyte cells, or T-lymphocyte cells are either absent or ineffective.

So much more to Immunology!

This is a very brief introduction to how our immune systems work.

Next up- Textbook reading

You get to do a project, stay tuned for more information!

References Alcano, Edward. Biology Coloring Book. New

York: Random House. 1998. Print

Mackessy, Carol. Single Subject Test Preparation Biology/Life Science. Prepared for Orange County Dept. of Education. Study guide in Print

http://crohn.ie/archive/primer/immunsys.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/26360/immunevocab.html

http://nature.com

References continued

http://Sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/biology.html

http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/BUGL/immune.htm