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

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

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

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 describe first functioning 'lipidome' of mouse macrophage

For the first time, scientists have described not only the identities and quantities of fat species in a living mammalian cell – in this case, a mouse macrophage or white blood cell – but they also ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 01, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Spleen might be source of damaging cells at spinal cord injury site

The spleen, an organ that helps the body fight infections, might also be a source of the cells that end up doing more harm than good at the site of a spinal cord injury, new research suggests.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 15, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Molecular interactions hold key to how nanoparticles behave in cells

Nanoparticles show promise in solving a host of problems, from pinpointing medical diagnoses to developing alternative forms of energy and creating more durable materials. But scientists have yet to determine ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 12, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cancer drug linked to quantum dots increases drug uptake, reduces inflammation

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed a novel technology using quantum dots that is expected to have major implications for research and treatment of tuberculosis, as well as other inflammatory ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | 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

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

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

Inhibiting fatty acids in immune cells decreases atherosclerosis risk

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to significantly reduce atherosclerosis in mice that does not involve lowering cholesterol levels or eliminating other obesity-related ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jul 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.