Briefly describe the process of inflammation in an area that has been traumatized.
Inflammation as a nonspecific, defensive response of the body to tissue damage occurs in three major stages, which are the following:
Vasodilation of arterioles and increased capillary permeability take place in order for blood flow through the damaged area to happen and allow antibodies and clotting factors to enter from the blood to the affected area. These are caused by substances such as histamine, kinins, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and complement which produce heat, redness, and edema as symptoms.
Phagocytic emigration, dependent on chemotaxis, happens when the neutrophils stick and squeeze through the blood vessel wall to the injured area to destroy invading microorganisms (phagocytosis). Monocytes then go to the tissue and add to the phagocytic activity of the already fixed macrophages.
Tissue repair begins once the macrophages die and collect as dead cells and fluid, known as pus, which will reach the body’s surface or drain into an internal cavity and disperses.
Choose one type of Immunity (Innate and Humoral) and explain how its mechanism protects our body.
Innate (nonspecific) immunity, activated at birth, does not require specific recognition of a microbe and acts against all microbes the same way. These act immediately once encountered with infectious agents and do not generate long-term protective immunological memory. It includes external physical and chemical barriers provided by the skin and mucous membranes, as well as internal defenses such as antimicrobial substances, natural killer cells, phagocytes, inflammation, and fever.
The mechanism of protection for innate immunity comprises the first and second line of defense. The first line of defense, composed of the skin and mucous membranes, provide physical and chemical barriers that prevent pathogens and other foreign substances from entering the body by shedding (skin), trapping and filtrating (mucous membranes), and flushing and acidizing (perspiration and gastric juice) these microbes. When pathogens enter the first line of defense, they encounter the second line of defense which constitutes the internal antimicrobial substances, phagocytes, natural killer cells, inflammation, and fever which has its specific mechanisms such as attaching and penetrating (interferons), cytolysis (antimicrobial substances), mitigation (phagocytes), and emigration (inflammation) to fight pathogens that penetrate the body.