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How does the immune system work?


Most of us would have come across the immune system in our bodies but do we know where exactly its located? Or the fact of how it functions ? Well digging from the basic, what does the term 'immune' stand for? It is an action of resisting or protecting a system against a counter effect, which in the case of the human body refers to the defence mechanism against outside invaders (like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and toxins produced by microbes). 

Now that we know the immune system corresponds to the defence mechanism of the human body where do you think it could be located? It is known that only a group of organs functioning together can make a system, so what are the organs making up the immune system? Some of the major organs that we should know to understand the working of the immune system are  the bone marrow, the thymus, the spleen, the lymphatic vessels and nodes and so. How does these organs help with defence should be the next question, where the answer is the production of immune cells like lymphocytes. All of the organs associated within the immune system produce and help with transport of  immune cells (called white blood cells consisting of many types) to circulate through the blood stream. 

We know the immune cells are the basic function of the immune system so now let's probe further to the function of these organs. 

1) The bone marrow is a tissue found inside our bones to produce certain blood cells like red blood cells (used to carry oxygen around the body), white blood cells (used to fight against outside invaders) and the platelets (that helps with blood clots).  Out of these the component that corresponds to the immune system is the white blood cells, consisting of two common types known as the lymphocytes (that produce antibodies) and the phagocytes (the engulf or digest foreign bodies).

2) The spleen helps with blood filtration to remove microbes and dead or old blood cells. It corresponds to the immune system by producing more antibody producing lymphocyte cells called the B cells. 

3) The lymphatic vessels and node (referred to as lymphatic system) is a network that has a wide variety of roles like, trapping microbes,  maintaining blood fluidity (as it collects the excess fluids from blood), absorbing fats, and also a place where the fighting of white bloods cells with pathogens take place. 

4) The thymus is an organ that monitors the blood composition for white bloods cells and produces a particular type of lymphocytes known as the T - helper cells. These cells function by recognising foreign bodies and activates the B - lymphocytes or the antibodies to fight against the pathogens (outside invaders). 

(Source: Dr.Abdullah Al Shammari)

These are some of the basic on the function of the immune system. Stay tuned to know more of the science. 

Next : The production of antibodies and their roles 

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