News tagged with macrophages

Pigeons' navigation skill not down to iron-rich beak cells: study

The theory that pigeons' famous skill at navigation is down to iron-rich nerve cells in their beaks has been disproved by a new study published in Nature.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Scientists find the 'master switch' for key immune cells in inflammatory diseases

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have identified a protein that acts as a "master switch" in certain white blood cells, determining whether they promote or inhibit inflammation. The study, published in the journal ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jan 16, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria

For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 27, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0

Carbon black nanoparticles can cause cell death

Researchers from the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine have found that inhaled carbon black nanoparticles create a double source of inflammation in the lungs.

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

An Alzheimer's vaccine in a nasal spray

One in eight Americans will fall prey to Alzheimer's disease at some point in their life, current statistics say. Because Alzheimer's is associated with vascular damage in the brain, many of them will succumb through a painful ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Feb 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Call of the riled: Stress signal in cancer cells triggers similar response in other cells, aiding tumor growth

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say a "stress response" mechanism used by normal cells to cope with harsh or demanding conditions is exploited by cancer cells, which ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Apr 04, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Breast cancer cells outsmart the immune system and thrive

Scientists discovered a new way breast cancer cells dodge the immune system and promote tumor growth, providing a fresh treatment target in the fight against the disease. While comparable mechanisms to avoid the immune system ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Feb 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover origin of immune cells in the brain

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that microglia, the immune cells that reside in the brain, have a unique origin and are formed shortly after conception. It was previously thought that microglia originated at the ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Oct 22, 2010 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The remarkable effects of fat loss on the immune system

Australian scientists have shown for the first time that even modest weight loss reverses many of the damaging changes often seen in the immune cells of obese people, particularly those with Type 2 diabetes.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Apr 20, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Bone marrow can harbor HIV-infected cells (w/ Video)

University of Michigan scientists have identified a new reservoir for hidden HIV-infected cells that can serve as a factory for new infections. The findings, which appear online March 7 in Nature Medicine, indicate a new ...

Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS

created Mar 07, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Salmonella infection, but not as we know it

Researchers at Cambridge University have shed new light on a common food poisoning bug. Using real-time video microscopy, coupled with mathematical modelling, they have changed our assumptions about Salmonella and how it ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Research shows why one bacterial infection is so deadly in cystic fibrosis patients

Scientists have found why a certain type of bacteria, harmless in healthy people, is so deadly to patients with cystic fibrosis.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New dual recognition mechanism discovered in tuberculosis

One third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), which leads to tuberculosis (TB), a leading cause of death world-wide. A new discovery, led by a team of researchers from Case Western ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 09, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Tuberculosis protects itself against toxic agents sent to destroy it

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tuberculosis fights off the toxic agents, acidity and oxidants, that our immune system sends to destroy it, which is why the maddeningly drug-resistant bacterium can survive in harsh conditions in our bodies ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 12, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research shows why low vitamin D raises heart disease risks in diabetics

Low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes, and researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now think they know ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

created Aug 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Macrophage

Macrophages (Greek: big eaters, from makros "large" + phagein "eat"; abbr. ) are white blood cells within tissues, produced by the division of monocytes. Human macrophages are about 21 micrometres in diameter. Monocytes and macrophages are phagocytes, acting in both non-specific defense (or innate immunity) as well as to help initiate specific defense mechanisms (or adaptive immunity) of vertebrate animals. Their role is to phagocytose (engulf and then digest) cellular debris and pathogens either as stationary or as mobile cells, and to stimulate lymphocytes and other immune cells to respond to the pathogen. They can be identified by specific expression of a number of proteins including CD14, CD11b, F4/80 (mice)/EMR1 (human), Lysozyme M, MAC-1/MAC-3 and CD68 by flow cytometry or immunohistochemical staining. They move by action of Amoeboid movement.

For more information about Macrophage, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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