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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 ...
Microglia also constantly monitor neuronal functions through direct somatic contacts via their microglial processes, and exert neuroprotective effects when needed. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] The brain and spinal cord, which make up the CNS, are not usually accessed directly by pathogenic factors in the body's circulation due to a series of endothelial cells ...
Despite cytokines often being too large to pass through the blood-brain barrier alone, [78] their effect on the central nervous system (CNS) can happen with cytokines entering the CNS in areas where the blood-brain barrier is permeable, by being carried across the blood-brain barrier, or by binding with the cerebral vascular endothelium ...
The mononuclear phagocyte system and the monocyte macrophage system refer to two different entities, often mistakenly understood as one. [citation needed] "Reticuloendothelial system" is an older term for the mononuclear phagocyte system, but it is used less commonly now, as it is understood that most endothelial cells are not macrophages. [2]
Phagoptosis has multiple functions including removal and disposal of: pathogenic cells, aged cells, damaged cells, stressed cells and activated cells. Pathogenic cells such as bacteria can be opsonised by antibodies or complement factors, enabling their phagocytosis and phagoptosis by macrophages and neutrophils.
Macrophages are found throughout the body in almost all tissues and organs (e.g., microglial cells in the brain and alveolar macrophages in the lungs), where they silently lie in wait. A macrophage's location can determine its size and appearance. Macrophages cause inflammation through the production of interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and TNF ...
As one of the major cytokines responsible for maintaining inflammatory balance, IL-6 can also be used as a biological marker to observe the correlation between age and neuroinflammation. The same levels of IL-6 observed in the brain after injury, have also been found in the elderly and indicate the potential for cognitive impairment to develop.
Micrograph showing hemosiderin-laden alveolar macrophages, as seen in a pulmonary hemorrhage. H&E stain. An alveolar macrophage, pulmonary macrophage, (or dust cell) is a type of macrophage, a professional phagocyte, found in the airways and at the level of the alveoli in the lungs, but separated from their walls. [1]