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Discussion Post 8 Marie Curie was a famous French-Polish scientist known for her pioneering research on radioactivity. Her work not only brought her fame but her death as well; she developed aplastic anemia due to radiation exposure. She experienced recurrent and prolonged infections (viral, bacterial, parasitic, and fungal). Explain why she suffered from recurrent infections. Be sure to mention the different types of WBC and the relation to the various infections, and the reasons why she lacked the cell-mediated and the humeral response.

Initial Post: Unfortunately, even though Marie Curie was a pioneer in science and had radically changed the course of how we practice medicine she passed away over eighty years ago due complications stemming from aplastic anemia. Aplastic anemia is an extremely rare disease where the bodys bone marrow will slow down or cease new blood cell production. Due to this, new white blood cells will not be produced anymore. White blood cells are our bodies immune defense and there are nine we discussed in the Basinski videos. Basophils secrete granules against allergies and asthma. Mast cells secrete granules that contain histamine and heparin in them that aid in an allergic reaction and cause vasodilation respectively. Neutrophils are known to be in high numbers when we have an acute infection (such as a tooth abscess). Eosinophils destroy parasitic infections, particularly with anti-body coated parasites. Dendritic cells (some of us may know them by the name of Langerhans cells) which will recognize pathogens and “sound the alarm,” so to speak, to bring in other immune cells via antigen presentation. The reason Marie Curie suffered so many recurrent and prolonged infections is because her monocyte counts are low, as well as her lymphocytes and plasma cell (mature B-cell) counts. Monocytes are specifically known to be high in numbers when the body has a chronic bacterial infection, due to her aplastic anemia there are not enough of these cells to fight off chronic infections hence the reoccurrence. Lymphocytes have two categories B-cells and T-cells. B-cells are present in humoral response (secrete antibodies) and T-cells are present in cell-mediated responses (cell activation of phagocytes, cytotoxic T-cells, and release cytokines). Plasma cells are B-cells that have matured and produce antibody molecules that target the antigens (pathogen) and kills it. References Aplastic anemia - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). Retrieved January 5, 2020, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aplastic-anemia/diagnosis treatment/drc-20355020. "Plasma Osmolality - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics." (n.d.). Web. 5 Jan. 2020 .

Reply 1: Hey Helen, good post, the T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes will be low in count. I would like to mention that Marie Curies’ monocytes would also be low. This would explain her chronic

Discussion Post 8 infections. Monocytes fight off bacterial, viral and fungal infections and are used in high numbers during chronic infections. We now know through years of research that they especially protect us against diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid. It is important to point out that monocytes are classified as a phagocytic immune cell that uses osponins (coating of proteins around the pathogen) to identify the pathogen. Meaning, it will eat the pathogen a lot quicker due to recognizing it via the osponins coating.

Reply 2: Great post Nadeen and I love your picture! I just wanted to go a little deeper into the B and T lymphocytes. B-lymphocytes are immature to begin with and will then mature into plasma cells or memory cells. Plasma cells will secrete antibodies against the antigen on the pathogen and memory cells are used to remember that pathogen for next time and share itself with other cells so the next time the immune cells encounters that same pathogen they will activate quicker to destroy it. It is also good to know that B-lymphocytes are a known as a humoral response, meaning they use antibodies. Whereas T-lymphocytes mature in thymus gland into cytoxic Tcells and helper T-cells. Cytotoxic T-cells are specifically used to kill cancer cell and helper Tcells release cytokines that signal the immune system to respond by sending more white blood cells to that specific area....