 Allergies! [25]
Allergy is a disorder of the immune system often also referred to as atopy.
Antidepressants [24]
An antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia.
Arthritis [23]
Arthritis is a group of conditions involving damage to the joints of the body.
Cancer [28]
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth
Cardio & Blood [1]
Risk factors for heart disease: infections
Cholesterol [3]
A fat-like substance called a lipid. It is used to build cell membranes, hormones and bile acids
Diabetes [20]
The inability of the body to produce, or the inability to metabolize, the human hormone insulin; Diabetes insipidus, usually a disorder of the ...
Epilepsy [9]
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures
Gastrointestinal [4]
The digestive tract is the system of organs within multicellular animals that takes in food...
General Health [54]
The infant, child or young person?s current health condition
Herbal [30]
Herbal tea, herbal medicine
Hormonal [26]
Hormones - Proteins produced by organs of the body that trigger activity in other locations.
Men's Health [2]
For men on fitness, health, sex, caree
Pain relief [23]
Pain management is the medical discipline concerned with the relief of pain.
Skin care [23]
The skin is the outer covering of the body
Weight Loss [29]
Loss of body weight by dieting or due to various easting disorders or medical conditions.
Women's Health [31]
Find information on women's health issues, and lifestyle at the Women's Health
Fresh material  What are symptoms of endometriosis: dysmenorrhoea
→ More
Solutions to infertility: what you can do to help yourself
→ More
Endometriosis: the burden of guilt
→ More
Endometriosis: about suspected diagnosis
→ More
What are symptoms of endometriosis
→ More
The most popular materials [1561 view]
What are symptoms of endometriosis: dysmenorrhoea → More
[1518 view]
Prostaglandins—the new hormones → More
[1369 view]
Hysterectomy: prolapse → More
[1367 view]
Factors affecting fertility: environmental hazards → More
[1308 view]
Solutions to infertility: what you can do to help yourself → More
Awaiting moderation 691 Article |
FOOD ALLERGY AND MAST CELLS: HISTAMINE AND PHAGOCYTES FOOD ALLERGY AND MAST CELLS: HISTAMINE AND PHAGOCYTES
One of the main chemicals to be released is called histamine -hence the use of drugs that counteract its effects, antihistamines, in the treatment of allergies. The packets of chemicals inside the resting mast cell look like small granules under the microscope, so the process of releasing the chemicals is called degranulation.
Histamine and other chemicals released by mast cells are called mediators because they bring about or 'mediate' changes in the body. A powerful cocktail of mediators, containing ten or more separate substances, spills out of a degranulating mast cell. Each mediator has its own particular effect on the body - some make the blood vessels open out, others make them more leaky so that blood escapes through the vessel wall. Several mediators make smooth muscles contract - these are not the muscles by which we move around, but those that operate our lungs, stomach, intestine and bladder. When they contract sharply, air may be expelled from the tubes leading to our lungs, or semi-digested food from our bowels.
This is bad news for parasites, which may be directly affected by the mediators themselves, and then assaulted by the body's reaction to the mediators. In the case of parasites in the gut, for example, the direct effect of the mediators may make the parasites loosen their grip, and the diarrhoea that follows flushes them out of the body. For parasites in the blood, the expansion and leakiness of blood vessels produces the redness and swelling that we describe as inflammation. One feature of inflammation is that all-purpose defensive cells called phagocytes (which simply means 'eating cells') are attracted to die site of the invasion.
One group of phagocytes, the macrophages ('big eaters') have the role of perpetuating the inflammation reaction. They produce an enzyme called phospholipase or PLA. What PLA then does is to cut up certain fat molecules - the phospholipids - found in the membranes of all our body cells. The fragments released from the phospholipids by PLA are then worked on by other enzymes, which turn them into potent chemical mediators, known as prostaglandins.
*31\180\8*
Allergies
«Buy Generic Levitra»
 Print
Viewed: 335
| Keywords for this page: FOOD ALLERGY AND MAST CELLS: HISTAMINE AND PHAGOCYTES |
|
|
