Showing posts with label Lymphatic System. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lymphatic System. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Epitope


We just learned about the Paratope.

Another part of the immune system is an Epitope.

Just like we learned that the paratope is part of the antibody that is like the lock, the epitope is the part of the antigen that is like the key.

The antibody lock goes around looking for an antigen key to match.
So the paratopes look for epitopes to match.


(from: wikipedia - epitope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Central Retinal Vein

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Paratope


We just learned about the Antibody that helps find and get rid of pathogen diseases.

Another part of the immune system is the Paratope.

We learned about how the antibody is like a detective with a lock looking for the antigen with the right key.

The paratope is the part of the antibody that is like the lock.
They are made up of chemicals in the body that the antibody uses to find diseases.


(from: wikipedia - paratope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Central Retinal Artery

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Antibody


We just learned about the Antigens that are like signs on pathogen diseases showing what kind of disease they are.

Another part of the immune system is the Antibody.

The antibody is the part of the body that looks for those signs on the antigens to get rid of them.

There are all different types of antibodies, and each one is built like a detective looking for a different type of bad disease.

The antibodies are built in a Y shape, and work with antigens like a lock and key.

If the antibody lock matches the antigen key, then the antibody gets to work getting rid of that antigen to kill the disease.


(from: wikipedia - antibody)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Optic Disc

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Antigen


We just learned about the Pathogen.

Another part of how the body fights sickness is an Antigen, also called "Ag".

An antigen is a part of a pathogen disease that the body can use to figure out what kind of disease it is.
It's almost like the disease is wearing a type of sign, mark or color that tells the body what it is.

Once the body knows what kind of disease it is, it can use the right types of white blood cells like T cells or NK cells to go kill the bad disease.

The antigens are made up of things called proteins, peptines or polysaccarides.
Those are just fancy words for chemicals on a disease that look like a sign to our virus fighting immune system.


(from: wikipedia - antigen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Opthalmic Artery

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Pathogen


We just learned about the Thymus.

All of these parts of the lymphatic system help fight against bad things called Pathogens.

A pathogen is a living thing that can cause you to get sick.
It could be a virus, bacteria or other type of living thing that can get into your body.

The different types of cells in the lymphatic system like T cells or all work together to fight these pathogens, and keep your body healthy.

The science of these living things is called a microbioly, and the science for how these living things can hurt the body is called pathology.
(from: wikipedia - pathogen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eye Movement

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Thymus


We just learned about the Phagocytosis.

Another part of the immune system is the Thymus.

We learned before about the type of lymphocyte white blood cells called T cells that go to the thymus to grow.

The thymus is only a few inches long and wide, but it is very important.
When young T cells leave the bone marrow to go to the thymus they are called thymocytes.

The thymocytes get to the thymus and then they are put to the antigen test.
Antigens are things that are part of the human body, but also part of viruses.
We want our T cells to fight against virus antigens, but not human body antigents.
So this thing called the MHC tests to see if the young thymocyte is a virus fighter.

If it is a virus fighter, this is called "positive selection" and it gets to grow up to a T cell and leave the thymus.
If not, this is caled "negative selection" then it has to be destroyed or it could hurt the body.


(from: wikipedia - thymus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fovea

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Phagocytosis


We just learned about the Spleen.

Another part of the lymphatic system is the Phagocytosis.

Some of the white blood cells we learned about get rid of bad things in our body in different ways.
One of the ways they do this is by using phagocytosis, which is wrapping their whole body around the bad bacteria, almost like they are eating it.
Then once the bad thing is surrounded, they break it down into pieces and get rid of it.


(from: wikipedia - phagocytosis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Photoreceptor Cells

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Spleen


We just learned about the Basophil.

Another part of the lymphatic system is the Spleen.

This is a small organ about 3 inches long in the upper left part of the body, behind the stomach.

The spleen has a few jobs: - Remove old red blood cells that aren't good anymore
- Keep some extra blood in case of bleeding
- Recycles iron from old blood back into the body
- Fights bacteria and viruses using lymphocytes


(from: wikipedia - spleen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cone Cells

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Basophil


We just learned about the type of white blood cell called the Eosinophil.

Another type of white blood cell is the Basophil.

We've learned about 4 other types of white blood cells (WBC):
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.
- neutrophils - most common WBC that is the first line of defense for fighting infections.
- eosinophils - that live in tissues and help fight off allergic responses

The Basophil is the 5th and last type of WBC.

This type of white blood cell is one of the things that makes your body react when it is allergic to something. So this could be swelling up or getting itchy spots on your body.
It does this by letting out something called "histamines".

The eosinophils puts out "antihistamines" so when your body is trying to calm down from being allergic to something, these antihistamines work against the histamines.

Basophils also let out a chemical called heparin, which keeps your blood a liquid.
When your blood dries up and turns to a clot it can cause problems, so the heparin makes sure it doesn't dry up.


(from: wikipedia - basophil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rod Cells

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Eosinophil


We just learned about the Neutrophil.

Another type of white blood cell is the Eosinophil, pronounced like "ee-oh-sin-oh-fill".

We've learned about 3 other types of white blood cells (WBC):
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.
- neutrophils - most common WBC that is the first line of defense for fighting infections.

Less than 3% of the WBCs in the body are eosinophils.
They help fight viruses, and they also help the body fight off allergic responses.

One big difference is that these eosinophils live in tissues, they are not floating around in the blood stream.
They hang out in places like the intestines and spleen, but they do not go into the lungs, skin or esophagus.


(from: wikipedia - eosinophil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Zonule of Zinn

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Neutrophil


We just learned about the Monocyte.

Another type of white blood cell is a Neutrophil, also called a neutrocyte or heterophil.

We've learned about 2 other types of white blood cells:
- lymphocytes - that help kill off bad diseases using T, B or NK cells.
- monocytes - that help fight off infections and clean up garbage in the body.

The neutrophils are a lot like the monocytes, where their job is to go fight off bad germs and dirt that cause infections and make you sick.
These are the first line of defense for your body when there is an infection, they are like the emergency workers that rush to the scene to help out.


There are more neutrophils than any other type of white blood cell, and the human body makes about 100 billion neutrophils every day.

One of the only differences between monoctyes and neutrophils is that when a monocyte fights off an infection or disease they leave behind some clues about what kind of disease it might be.
These clues help the super powerful lymphocytes come in if there is a bad disease that needs to be killed off.


(from: wikipedia - neutrophil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Uvea

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Monocyte


We just learned about the kind of white blood cell called a lymphocyte, and the kind of lymphocyte called the B Cell.

There are other kinds of white blood cells, like one called the Monocyte.

These white blood cells are bigger than their cousins the lymphocytes, and their job is to go around cleaning up dirty things like infections in the body.

When they see something like dirt or infection they turn into something else called a macrophage and they wrap themselves around the bad stuff, almost like they are eating it, and they destroy the unhealthy bad stuff.

They are different from the lymphocytes because lymphocytes are really for targeting specific diseases or viruses, and monocytes are really more like cleaning up all the dirty garbage and fighting off infections.

So if your skin gets cut and you don't wash it off and keep it clean, you can get dirt and germs in your body.
The monocytes help fight off the bad stuff that comes from the dirt and germs if it gets infected.


(from: wikipedia - monocyte)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Choroid

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

B Cells


We've learned about just learned about the T Cells.

Another type of white blood cell lymphocyte is B Cells.

We are looking at:
- the type of blood cells called white blood cells,
- the type of white blood cells called lymphocytes
- the type of lymphocytes called B Cells.

Remember that we already learned about 2 other types of lymphocytes called NK Cells and T Cells.

In your body you have the living cells that make up your body or even bad diseases, and then you have a lot of other liquid floating around that is not made up of cells, just liquid.

The T Cells and NK Cells work on looking at the cells, killing bad ones and letting good ones live.

The B Cells work on the liquid that is flowing around the cells in your body.
If they find anything that looks bad, they let out these things called antibodies that stick to the bad disease and tell the body that this bad cell needs to be killed.


(from: wikipedia - b cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ciliary Body

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

T Cells


We just learned about NK Cells.

Another type of lymphocyte is T Cells.

We are looking at:
- the type of blood cells called white blood cells,
- the type of white blood cells called lymphocytes
- the type of lymphocytes called T Cells.

These cells are called T Cells because they are usually found in a part of the body called the thymus, which is right in the middle of your chest behind your sternum.

All white blood cells are made in the bone marrow, but after these T Cells leave the bone marrow they go to the thymus.

T Cells are kind of like NK Cells as they go kill bad viruses that attack your body, but the T Cells are special because they are made to only attack certain types of viruses, where as the NK Cells attack everything.

When the T Cells go to the thymus, the thymus sorts them out and figures out which ones are set up to fight the right kinds of viruses that the body wants to fight, and then if a T Cell is not needed it is thrown away.

The T Cells are sort of like specialized attack soldiers waiting for certain viruses to show up and then they attack.


(from: wikipedia - t cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fibrous Tunic

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

NK Cells


We just learned about the type of white blood cell called a Lymphocyte.

There are a few types of lymphocytes, like the NK Cells, also called Natural Killer Cells or large granular lymphocytes (LGL).

These cells float around in the body, and if they find a cell that doesn't look like it's supposed to be part of the body then it lets out some chemicals called cytokines that will destroy the bad cell.

The bad cells might be like a tumor, an infection or a virus, and when the NK Cell releases it's cytokins and the bad cell will be destroyed.
Because these LGLs kill other bad cells they are called natural killers.


(from: wikipedia - natural killer cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aqueous Humour

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Lymphocyte


We just learned that there are three types of blood cells, white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

Let's learn a little more about the white blood cells.
There are 5 different types of white blood cells!

One of the types of white blood cells is called a Lymphocyte.

Remember we learned that lymph is a white liquid carried in the lymph capillaries and then the lymphatic vessels, and the lymph nodes help clean out all the bad stuff in the lymph.

Lymphocytes are types of white blood cells that help fight off bad diseases, and in the white lymph liquid there is more of this type of cell than any of the other ones.

There are 3 different types of lymphocytes: T cells, B cells and NK (natural killer) cells and they each have a different job to help fight the bad diseases that attack the body.


(from: wikipedia - lymphocyte)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vitreous Body

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Platelet


We just learned about the Red Blood Cell and the White Blood Cell.

The third type of blood cell is the Platelet, also called thrombocytes.

The name thrombocyte comes from the Greek words θρόμβος (thrombos) which means clot, and κύτος (kytos) which means cell.
Platelets get carried around in the veins and arteries, and if they see that there is some damage to the body, like a hole in the vein or artery then they will try and patch up the hole.

A bunch of platelets will work to connect to each other, and when they work to block up a hole like this it is called a clot.

So when you have a cut and are bleeding, the platelets come and make a blood clot and help fix up the cut.


(from: wikipedia - platelet)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Macula

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Red Blood Cell


We just learned about the White Blood Cell.

Another type of blood cell is the Red Blood Cell, also called RBC, red cell, red blood corpuscle, haematid, erythroid cell, or erythrocyte.

Most of the weird science names come from other languages, like corpuscle comes from the Latin word "corpus" for body, haematid comes from the Greek word "hema" for blood, and erythrocyte comes from the Greek words "erythros" for red plus "kytos" for hollow vessel.

Remember there are three types of blood cells: White Blood Cells, Red Blood Cells, Platelets.

There are more red blood cells than the other two type of blood cells, with TRILLIONS of RBCs in the body.

The job of these blood cells is to take oxygen from the lungs to the body, going along the veins and arteries of the circulatory system.

They are shaped a little like a frisbee or a bowl, and they don't have a middle part called a nucleus like most other cells.
Just like the white blood cells, these are made in the bone marrow, and a grown up person makes over 2 million of these RBCs per second!
They go around the body and do their job for about 4 months, and then they get recycled back into the body and replaced by new ones.


(from: wikipedia - red blood cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sclera

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

White Blood Cell


We just learned that there are three types of Blood Cell red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Let's learn a little about White Blood Cells, also called WBCs, leukocytes or leucocytes.

These cells in the blood help fight against diseases or other bad things in the body.
This could be a type of virus or some kind of germs that got into the blood.

White blood cells are made in the bone marrow.
If there are a lot of white blood cells in the body, this can be a way for doctors to tell if someone is sick.
Looking at a liter of blood, if there are between 4,000 and 11,000 white blood cells then this is ok.
If there is a lot more or a lot less, then it is a sign the person is sick.

There are a lot of different types of white blood cells and they all have different jobs for fighting off anything that might be trying to hurt your body.


(from: wikipedia - white blood cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Optic Nerve

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Blood Cell


We just learned about the Haematopoiesis.

The bone marrow that uses haematopoiesis makes Blood Cells, also called hematopoietic cells, hemocytes or hematocytes.

Remember we learned before that the Greek word for blood is hema, so that is why all of those other names start with hema.

Blood cells come in three types: Red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.


(from: wikipedia - blood cell)


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