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Phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phagein) 'to eat' and κύτος (kytos) 'cell') is the process by which a cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs phagocytosis is called a phagocyte.
Phagocytosis, derived from the Greek words phagein, meaning to eat, kytos or cell, and “osis” meaning process, was first described by Élie Metchnikoff, who won the Nobel Prize 100 years ago. Phagocytosis involves the internalization of solids, such as bacteria, by an organism. Phagocytosis in Three Steps
In pinocytosis, cells engulf liquid particles (in humans this process occurs in the small intestine, where cells engulf fat droplets). [39] In phagocytosis, cells engulf solid particles. [40] Exocytosis involves the removal of substances through the fusion of the outer cell membrane and a vesicle membrane. [41]
Phagocytosis is the process of taking in particles such as bacteria, invasive fungi, parasites, dead host cells, and cellular and foreign debris by a cell. [22] It involves a chain of molecular processes.
Phagocytosis is the process by which cells bind and internalize particulate matter larger than around 0.75 μm in diameter, such as small-sized dust particles, cell debris, microorganisms and apoptotic cells. These processes involve the uptake of larger membrane areas than clathrin-mediated endocytosis and caveolae pathway.
Phagocytosis of the hosts' own cells is common as part of regular tissue development and maintenance. When host cells die, either by apoptosis or by cell injury due to an infection, phagocytic cells are responsible for their removal from the affected site. [ 9 ]
Due to their role in phagocytosis, macrophages are involved in many diseases of the immune system. For example, they participate in the formation of granulomas, inflammatory lesions that may be caused by a large number of diseases. Some disorders, mostly rare, of ineffective phagocytosis and macrophage function have been described, for example ...
Thus, phagocytosis is not a randomly occurring event. It is triggered by a ligand binding to a receptor. Some cells are specially designed to phagocytize. These cells include Natural Killer cells, macrophages, and neutrophils. All of these are involved in the immune response and serve to degrade foreign or antigenic material [4]