What is macrophages
Answers
Macrophages (Greek: big eaters, from Greek μακρός (makrós) = large, φαγεῖν (phagein) = to eat[1]) are a type of white blood cell, of the immune system, that engulfs and digests cellular debris, foreign substances, microbes, cancer cells, and anything else that does not have the type of proteins specific to healthy body cells on its surface[2] in a process called phagocytosis.
Macrophage
Macrophage.jpg
A macrophage stretching its "arms" (pseudopodia) to engulf two particles, possibly pathogens, in a mouse. Trypan blue exclusion staining.
Details
Pronunciation
/ˈmakrə(ʊ)feɪdʒ/
System
Immune system
Function
Phagocytosis
Identifiers
Latin
Macrophagocytus
Acronym(s)
Mφ, MΦ
MeSH
D008264
TH
H2.00.03.0.01007
Anatomical terms of microanatomy
[edit on Wikidata]
These large phagocytes are found in essentially all tissues,[3] where they patrol for potential pathogens by amoeboid movement. They take various forms (with various names) throughout the body (e.g., histiocytes, Kupffer cells, alveolar macrophages, microglia, and others), but all are part of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Besides phagocytosis, they play a critical role in nonspecific defense (innate immunity) and also help initiate specific defense mechanisms (adaptive immunity) by recruiting other immune cells such as lymphocytes. For example, they are important as antigen presenters to T cells. In humans, dysfunctional macrophages cause severe diseases such as chronic granulomatous disease that result in frequent infections.
Beyond increasing inflammation and stimulating the immune system, macrophages also play an important anti-inflammatory role and can decrease immune reactions through the release of cytokines. Macrophages that encourage inflammation are called M1 macrophages, whereas those that decrease inflammation and encourage tissue repair are called M2 macrophages.[4] This difference is reflected in their metabolism; M1 macrophages have the unique ability to metabolize arginine to the "killer" molecule nitric oxide, whereas rodent M2 macrophages have the unique ability to metabolize arginine to the "repair" molecule ornithine. However, this dichotomy has been recently questioned as further complexity has been discovered.
Human macrophages are about 21 micrometres (0.00083 in) in diameter[5] and are produced by the differentiation of monocytes in tissues. They can be identified using flow cytometry or immunohistochemical staining by their specific expression of proteins such as CD14, CD40, CD11b, CD64, F4/80 (mice)/EMR1 (human), lysozyme M, MAC-1/MAC-3 and CD68.[6]
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