Biology A2 unit 4

Hey guys, could someone please help me out with this question??

Inflammation and phagocytosis are used against pathogens that have invaded the body.Explain why they are still referred to as part of the non-specific defences of the body.

Hey guys, could someone please help me out with this question??

Inflammation and phagocytosis are used against pathogens that have invaded the body.Explain why they are still referred to as part of the non-specific defences of the body.

Inflammation is where blood vessels dilate. This allows more blood (and therefore the substances it contains i.e. phagocytes) to the site of infection. Phagocytes simply follow the chemicals that a pathogen releases by chemotaxis. It doesn't matter what pathogen secretes them. The phagocyte the engulfs and breaks down that pathogen.

Phagocytes doesn't specifically attack, say, cancer cells. They attack any foreign pathogen unlike B and T cells which are specific.

I can give you a few hints and see how you can go from there?

Think of what makes up the non-specific (innate) immune defences and what makes up the specific (acquired) immune defences. What are the cells/mechanisms that are in the non-specific immune defences and how do they remove invading pathogens? A start of clue: an important non-specific cells sounds a bit like lacropage - what do these cells do? Do they release anything?

Thank you for also answering my question but I've never heard of lacropages, it's not included in this topic, perhaps I will learn about it in my further education. But I do understand the question now

Sorry - it's actually macrophages. That was just a clue as to which cell I was talking about. I studied in Scotland so the courses will be different but I thought you may have learned some phagocytosing cells such as macrophages or dendritic cells.