Phagocytosis has long been recognized as one of the differentiated functions of the macrophage and yet many of the cellular and biochemical mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear. Rabinovitch has separated the process of phagocytosis into two phases: attachment and ingestion (1). The former is dependent both on the surface properties of the cell and on the particle and is independent...

Surgical stress and anesthesia result in systemic immunosuppression. Propofol, a commonly used anesthetic agent, alters immune cell functions. Previously, we demonstrated that extracellular pressure increases macrophage phagocytosis. We hypothesized that propofol might influence pressure-induced macrophage phagocytosis in monocytes from patients undergoing surgery. Pressure (20 mmHg above ambie...

Neutrophils play a critical role in the clearance of bacteria from the lung and other organs by their capacity for phagocytosis and killing. Previously, we identified an important role for the leukotrienes in rat alveolar macrophage phagocytosis of Klebsiella pneumoniae. In this report, we explored the possibility that the leukotrienes play an important role in phagocytosis by neutrophils as we...

Phagocytosis controls CNS homeostasis by facilitating the removal of unwanted cellular debris. Accordingly, impairments in different receptors or proteins involved in phagocytosis result in enhanced inflammation and neurodegeneration. While various studies have identified extrinsic factors that modulate phagocytosis in health and disease, key intracellular regulators are less understood. Here w...

Phagocytosis is important during development and in the immune response for the removal of apoptotic cells and pathogens, yet its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the CED2/5/10/12 pathway regulates actin during phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, whereas the role of the CED1/6/7 pathway in phagocytosis is unclear. We report that Undertaker (UTA), a Drosophila ...

Phagocytosis is the process by which microbial pathogens are engulfed by macrophages and neutrophils and represents the first line of defense against bacterial infection. The importance of phagocytosis for bacterial clearance is of particular relevance to systemic inflammatory diseases, which are associated with the development of hypoxia, yet the precise effects of hypoxia on phagocytosis rema...

The innate immune function of phagocytosis of apoptotic cells, tissue debris, pathogens, and cancer cells is essential for homeostasis, tissue repair, fighting infection, and combating malignancy. Phagocytosis is carried out in the central nervous system (CNS) by resident microglia and in both CNS and peripheral nervous system by recruited macrophages. While phagocytosis proceeds, bystander hea...

Background & Aim: One of the major problems of modern medicine is the increasing consumption of synthetic drugs and frequent use of them will result in side effects. Considering this issue, patients should be mainly motivated to use pharmaceutical plants. Regarding the positive effects of sumac on the immune system, in the present study, we made a decision to compare sumac with...

Background & Aim: One of the major problems of modern medicine is the increasing consumption of synthetic drugs and frequent use of them will result in side effects. Considering this issue, patients should be mainly motivated to use pharmaceutical plants. Regarding the positive effects of sumac on the immune system, in the present study, we made a decision to compare sumac with...