VMC 221: Veterinary Immunology and Serology (1+1)

PHAGOCYTOSIS OF MICROBES

• Neutrophils and macrophages ingest bound microbes and the process is called phagocytosis.
• A phagocyte crawls towards a microbe, pseudopod advances around and engulf the microbe.
• The cytoplasm of the neutrophil-pseudopod contains a filamentous network of proteins, actin and myosin that determine the fluidity of the cytoplasm.
• Bindings occur between opsonin on the organism and the receptors on the neutrophil (phagocyte).
• Once firmly adhere, the organism is drawn into the cell and cytoplasm engulfs the microbe forming an enclosed vacuole called phagosome.