Immunology

How immune cells kill bacteria with acid

The first line of immune defense against invading pathogens like bacteria are macrophages, immune cells that engulf foreign objects that cross their way. After enclosing them in intracellular membrane vesicles, a process ...

Medical research

Cell 'canibalism' educates our defenses

Phagocytosis is a biological mechanism whereby specialized cells ingest and degrade old, dead, or damaged cells to prevent tissue damage due to their accumulation. But phagocytosis appears to also have an educational role. ...

Medical research

More intestinal cells than thought can absorb larger particles

The small intestine employs more cells and mechanisms than scientists previously thought to absorb relatively large particles, such as those that could encapsulate protein-based therapeutics like insulin, according to a new ...

Neuroscience

Microglia controls neuron production as brain develops

(Medical Xpress)—In a surprise breakthrough, researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute and their colleagues have found that microglia remove healthy neural progenitor cells (NPCs) through phagocytosis to control neuron ...