The Key To A Healthy Body - Immune System
Whether you're stomping through the showers in your bare feet after gym class or touching the bathroom doorknob, you're being exposed to germs.
Fortunately for most of us, the immune system is constantly on call to do battle with bugs that could put us out of commission. Immune system is defined as the bodily system that differentiates self from non-self and protects the body from foreign substances and pathogenic organisms by producing an immune response.
Types of Immunity
There are two types of immunity that interact to defend the body against injury and infection, innate immune response and adaptive immune response.
Innate immunity is the body’s first line of defense that triggered an immediate response to localized injury or invasion by an infectious agent.
It includes physical barriers such as skin, chemicals in the blood and chemical barriers such as hydrolytic enzymes, acidic environment that prevent the growth of antigen. Besides, there are also immune cells including phagocytes, natural killer that kill pathogens directly or mark them for later destruction.
Basically, innate immune response is activated by chemical properties of the antigen.
Meanwhile, adaptive immunity refers to antigen-specific immune response. Thus, it is a delayed response and is dependent on the innate system for activation. Although initially a delayed response, the adaptive immunity produce memory cells that makes future responses against specific antigen more efficient.
There are two groups of adaptive immune cells, which are B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes. B lymphocytes are produced by bone marrow to create antibodies in response to the presence of antigens. It is known as humoral immunity.
On the other hand, cell-mediated immunity are including T lymphocytes that generated by the spleen and lymph nodes. T lymphocytes will recognize peptide fragments on the surface of antigen cells that may escape detection by B lymphocytes.
Inflammation
If immune system ineffectively combats infection, prolonged inflammation can result in illness. Inflammation has been recognized as an indicator of illness and injury with 4 physical symptoms, redness, heat, swelling and pain.
The progression of chronic inflammation to disease is a complex process that involving many different biological pathways including leukocyte proliferation, angiogenesis, oxidative reations, and tissue fibrosis. As a result, some diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes mellitus may developed.
As saying of “prevention is always better than cure”, there are many simple lifestyle strategies that may effectively reduce inflammation and boost immune system. Having a balanced healthy lifestyle is the key that we always emphasize to combat inflammation and enhance overall health.
Stay tuned for the tips to boost immune system!
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