Friday, April 19, 2013

What are the antigen presenting cells?

Before answering the question, do you even know what is an antigen? Well, if don't know then I'll tell you but if you did let me refresh your memory. In immunology, an antigen is a foreign substance in the the body that produces an immune response. Now that we defined what is an antigen, lets get to business. There three types of antigen presenting cells: dendritic cell, macrophages and B cells. Dendritic cells form part of the mammalian immune system and their function is to process antigen material and present it on the surface to other cells in the immune system. Macrophages are matured monocytes and their function is ingest foreign material, such antigens, through the process of phagocitation. B cells are part of the lymphocytes white blood cells and their function is to generate antibodies for specific antigens. Those are the three antigen presenting cells along with their functions.

No comments:

Post a Comment