|
|
Feature Articles |
<<back |
 |
Immune System (Part 2)
June Butlin, MBANT, M.Sc., Ph.D |
|
 How the members of the immune system perform many interrelated functions to combat infection and achieve health.
Remembering back to when I first stared learning about physiology my teacher told us a fairy story to illustrate how the members of the immune system work together. I have expanded and interpreted a similar fairy story in the hope that it will help you to understand this complicated system. I suggest that you first read through the physiological fairy story and then re-read it through with the interpretation. You will either love it or hate it!!
A Physiological Fairy Story
There was a far distant land of great beauty, full of mountains, valleys, streams, flowers and trees. In this valley lived a group of people with good values who worked hard, but they were stressed and unhappy as an evil group of invaders lived in the mountains and attacked the good people and stole their food many times.
There were four gods looking on: Zeus, the master god. Apollo, the god of war. Aphrodite, the god of love and Fred, the god of middle management and yuppie character development. They were sorry for the good people so they decided to build a city surrounded by a wall
The good people moved to live inside the city wall and they rebuilt their lives free of invasion. However, the invaders were very clever and still managed to enter the city, attack the people and steal their food.
The four gods looked down and were not pleased. They wondered how the invaders still managed to enter the city. The answer became very clear after careful consideration of all the facts. Each week peasants from outside the city came through the city gates by horse and cart bringing food to sell within the city. The evil invaders were clever and hid on the underside of the cart to enter through the city gates.
Something to prevent entry was desperately needed apart from the city walls. Apollo decided that it was a good idea to build a ditch inside the gates and fill it with acid. The idea being that when the invaders hid underneath the cart they would receive an acid bath. The three gods agreed with Apollo.
But all did not go well, despite the acid bath. The invaders still managed to enter the city. The gods had a meeting and decided that the big, thick wall, gates and the acid bath were not enough. Zeus suggested that they should provide the city with a police force, which would act as a defence system against the invaders. Apollo suggested an easily identifiable, uniformed, police force, which would patrol the city on a regular basis. The police force would use a " black moriah" to move around very quickly. Fred, god of middle management and yuppie character development, decided that it would be a good idea to have a reserve force of non-uniformed policemen. They could act as a reserve army and take action when necessary.
Aphrodite, god of love, said that when invaders attacked them they should clear the streets of innocent women and children and market stalls so that the "black moriah " could enter the scene as soon as possible.
Zeus, the chief god thought that these were all good ideas and instigated them within the city.
The gods decided to visit the city to see how these new preventative measures were working. As they walked through the streets they heard messages over the loud speaker to clear the street as they were being invaded. The market traders and pedestrians cleared the streets very quickly.
A siren was heard and the " black moriah " whizzed through the streets at great speed. The uniformed branch of policemen left the " black moriah " and attacked the invaders. Some of the invaders were taken into the " black moriah " and were never seen again and some of the people were killed in the street and some were stabbed to death. Anarchy prevailed and the reserve force had to join the battle. The gods were not happy. There were too many invasions for the police force to deal with.
The gods identified three specific problems:
1) There were too many objects made of iron and the invaders were using this iron to make
weapons to attack the police force.
2) The temperature was too cool and the invaders loved this temperature as they lived high in the
mountains.
3) There were not enough policemen and they were not effective enough.
The gods returned to the clouds for a committee meeting. Zeus asked for suggestions. Apollo and Aphrodite had no further suggestions. However, Fred, the god of middle management and yuppie character development with entrepreneurial skills decided that they needed some really famous cops ~ Inspector Morse? The Bill? Detective Jack Frost? The gods agreed that they needed a strong character to act as a leader, and Zeus, who made all the final decisions, decided on Detective Jack Frost.
Zeus said that he was just right for the job, as he would be brilliant at uniting the police workforce and could effectively deal with the three main problems.
1) He could increase the temperature when the invaders attacked.
2) He could recruit and motivate more policemen.
3) He could remove all the ironworks so that it could not be made into weapons by the invaders.
Zeus had his way and Detective Jack Frost became Chief of Police. Now, whenever an attack took place Detective Jack Frost arrived quickly at the scene in the " black moriah ". He commanded the removal of loose ironware, brought in blow heaters to warm the temperature up, his integrity and character reminded the policemen to work as a team and he encouraged more policemen to join the force.
Despite the success of Detective Jack Frost, all was not well within the city. The invaders from the hills came up with another devious plan. They formed a new group of invaders called " Don Juan and the Moonies ". They developed an effective method of attacking the city and they did it in the following way. Don Juan found a safe hiding place within one of the houses in the city. Having gained entry Don Juan kidnapped and raped the lady of the household. The lady of the household felt so threatened that she denied the presence of the invader to the police when they came round to investigate. As a consequence of Don Juan's seduction little off springs named " Moonies " were born. These little offspring grew big and followed in their father's footsteps. They took over the running of houses. The police became totally inadequate at preventing this as the women denied the entry of Don Juan and the Moonies.
The gods could see the threat of the " Moonies" and realised that they needed to do something very quickly before the whole of the city was taken over.
The gods returned to the clouds for another committee meeting. Zeus asked the gods for suggestions. Apollo, the god of war said that they needed a superhero, a man with god like qualities who could save the city from Don Juan. The four gods thought and thought and finally Zeus thought of Mr. Kleen himself, Richard Branson," Super Virgin ". He was the only person who could rescue the city from its decline.
Zeus called him and asked him if he would come up with an idea to save the city from attack. Richard Branson thought quickly, and said that he would open a shop called " The House of Virgin " and he would act as the shopkeeper along with his team of helpers. When Don Juan and the Moonies entered the shop they would be recognised immediately and Richard Branson and his helpers would offer them free contraceptives. This would prevent reproduction that follows entry into the houses, and this would protect the city from further invasion.
The four gods thought Richard Branson's idea was brilliant and " The House of Virgin" was established. As soon as Don Juan and the Moonies invaded the shop Richard Branson and his helpers distributed the free contraceptives. This prevented the reproductive cycle from occurring and no more little Mooney's were born. It was a highly successful scheme.
However the effects were not long lasting and the invaders still destroyed the city, and the inhabitants, despite these means. There were still not enough protective mechanisms. The police force and defence systems were not strong enough. They needed a new strategy.
Zeus studied the situation. He watched the city carefully and he could see that the invaders were in disguise, and walked the street without recognition.
Zeus and the three other gods devised a whole new system of defence. All the defenders up to this point were very general in their approach and they could not recognise the invaders when they were in disguise. The SAS were set up to recognise specific invaders. They used a " new remote control laser finger-printing machine" to recognise people. The fingerprints taken were then matched to records to see if the person was an invader or a city dweller. A group of SAS members were specifically trained to use " the remote control laser finger printing machine " and they were specially trained to kill and destroy that member. Each specific member needed a specific group trained to kill him or her. They were then destroyed instantaneously. It was a brilliant system.
Zeus found that this system was working and it was a very effective way of killing the invader in the street. As soon as the invader was spotted the troops eradicated them. However even with this system two problems occurred.
1) The training of the SAS took time and in that time the invaders caused damage. It was fine when
they were trained as the invaders were then destroyed instantaneously.
2) Don Juan and the Moonies were destroyed in the street, but they were safe in the household.
When the SAS knocked on the door the householder protected Don Juan and the Moonies
So Zeus set up the second division of the SAS called the Bomb squad. The SAS bomb squad looked for two fingerprints, the fingerprint of the householder and the fingerprint of the invader. These could be detected on all the doorknobs of the houses being invaded by Don Juan and the Moonies. As soon as both sets of fingerprints were found this special division of the bomb squad arrived and blew the house up and with it the invader and the householder. Don Juan and the Moonies were finally under control. This, however, was not without cost, as many of the householders were killed in the process. However, the police force, the SAS group dealing with the "remote control laser finger printing machine", and the SAS bomb squad finally controlled the invaders. The number of attacks lessened and the damage was almost eliminated.
The city was happy for many years.
As time passed by a new type of problem occurred, the defence forces started to make mistakes. It had three problems:
1) It started to attack the food supplies and treated them as invaders.
2) The defence system lost its ability for accurate recognition and attacked it's own people.
3) Certain areas of the city were destroyed by its own defence system.
Thus the effective defence system that the gods had built, and which had finally protected the city from evil invaders went into decline. It attacked the food and it also killed its own people. Finally the defence system killed all the people in the city.
Interpretation of A Physiological Fairy Story
There was a far distant land of great beauty, full of mountains, valleys, streams, flowers and trees. In this valley lived a group of people with good values who worked hard, but they were stressed and unhappy as an evil group of invaders lived in the mountains and attacked the good people and stole their food many times.
There were four gods looking on: Zeus, the master god. Apollo, the god of war. Aphrodite, the god of love and Fred, the god of middle management and yuppie character development. They were sorry for the good people so they decided to build a city surrounded by a wall
*The city wall represents the skin, which are the first form of defence against invasion *
The good people moved to live inside the city wall and they rebuilt their lives free of invasion.
However the invaders were very clever and still managed to enter the city, attack the people and steal their food.
The four gods looked down and were not pleased. They wondered how the invaders still managed to enter the city. The answer became very clear after careful consideration of all the facts. Each week peasants from outside the city came through the city gates by horse and cart bringing food to sell within the city. The evil invaders were clever and hid on the underside of the cart to enter through the city gates.
*The city gates represent orifices in the body, the eyes, nose, vagina, anus and mouth *
Something to prevent entry was desperately needed apart from the city walls. Apollo decided that it was a good idea to build a ditch inside the gates and fill it with acid. The idea being that when the invaders hid underneath the cart they would receive an acid bath. The three gods agreed with Apollo.
*The acid represents the hydrochloric acid within the stomach, which kills many harmful microbes*
But all did not go well, despite the acid bath. The invaders still managed to enter the city. The gods had a meeting and decided that the big, thick wall, gates and the acid bath were not enough. Zeus suggested that they should provide the city with a police force, which would act as a defence system against the invaders. Apollo suggested an easily identifiable, uniformed, police force which would patrol the city on a regular basis. The police force would use a " black moriah" to move around very quickly.
*The police force and the black moriah represent the macrophages, which are part of the non-specific immune system. The invader meets with the macrophages, which engulfs the invader (endocytosis) and is then attacked by enzymes called lysosymes to digest the microbes. The harmless end products are expelled from the cell by exocytosis. This process is known as phagocytosis*
Fred, god of middle management and yuppie character development, decided that it would be a good idea to have a reserve force of non-uniformed policemen. They could act as a reserve army and take action when necessary.
*The reserve forces of non-uniformed policemen are complement proteins, which promote inflammation, direct killing of microbes through cytolysis (cell splitting) and enhance phagocytosis. Complement proteins aid phagocytosis by acting as a key for the attachment of the microbe to the macrophage*
Aphrodite, god of love, said that when invaders attacked them they should clear the streets of innocent women and children and market stalls so that the "black moriah " could enter the scene as soon as possible.
*Clearing the streets represents inflammation. Inflammation is brought about by macrophages, complement proteins and histamine production produced by the mast cells. The effect of inflammation is twofold*
1) To increase the size of the blood vessels causing vasodilation to increase the blood flow to local areas. This allows more immune members to be transported to the action site.
2) To increase the permeability of the blood vessel membranes to proteins and white blood cells. This allows the members of the immune system to enter the tissues where they are required.
Zeus, the chief god thought that these were all good ideas and instigated them within the city.
The gods decided to visit the city to see how these new preventative measures were working. As they walked through the streets they heard messages over the loud speaker to clear the street as they were being invaded. The market traders and pedestrians cleared the streets very quickly.
A siren was heard and the " black moriah " whizzed through the streets at great speed. The uniformed branch of policemen left the " black moriah " and attacked the invaders. Some of the invaders were taken into the " black moriah " and were never seen again, some of the people were killed in the street and some were stabbed to death. Anarchy prevailed and the reserve force had to join the battle. The gods were not happy. There were too many invasions for the police force to deal with.
The gods identified three specific problems:
1) There were too many objects made of iron and the invaders were using this iron to make weapons to attack the police force.
2) The temperature was too cool and the invaders loved this temperature as they lived high in the
mountains.
3) There were not enough policemen and they were not effective enough.
The gods returned to the clouds for a committee meeting. Zeus asked for suggestions. Apollo and Aphrodite had no further suggestions. However, Fred, the god of middle management and yuppie character development with entrepreneurial skills decided that they needed some really famous cops Inspector Morse? The Bill? Detective Jack Frost? The gods agreed that they needed a strong character to act as a leader, and Zeus, who made all the final decisions, decided on Detective Jack Frost.
Zeus said that he was just right for the job, as he would be brilliant at uniting the police workforce and could effectively deal with the three main problems.
1) He could increase the temperature when the invaders attacked.
2) He could recruit and motivate more policemen.
3) He could remove all the ironworks so that it could not be made into weapons by the invaders.
Zeus had his way and Detective Jack Frost became Chief of Police. Now, whenever an attack took place Detective Jack Frost arrived quickly at the scene in the " black moriah ". He commanded the removal of loose ironware, brought in blow heaters to warm the temperature up, and his integrity and character reminded the policemen to work as a team and he encouraged more policemen to join the force.
*Detective Jack Frost represents the inflammatory response when the protein transferrins and the hormone cytokines are released by macrophages during an invasion*
1) Transferrins (protein)) lower iron levels in the body. Bacteria require iron for reproduction, so
reducing iron levels will prevent bacteria from reproducing.
2 )Interleukin 1 (Cytokine) raises the overall body temperature and promotes fever. This increase in
temperature has a greater adverse effect on bacteria than it does on the body itself. The fever is a
beneficial part of the immune reaction, but high fevers do need to be controlled. Interleukin 1
also encourages the proliferation and differentiation of leukocytes making them more effective,
which links in with the idea of Detective Jack Frost beings a role motivator i.e. making things
happen.*
Despite the success of Detective Jack Frost, all was not well within the city. The invaders from the hills came up with another devious plan. They formed a new group of invaders called " Don Juan and the Moonies ". They developed an effective method of attacking the city and they did it in the following way. Don Juan found a safe hiding place within one of the houses in the city. Having gained entry Don Juan kidnapped and raped the lady of the household. The lady of the household felt so threatened that she denied the presence of the invader to the police when they came round to investigate. As a consequence of Don Juan's seduction little off springs named " Moonies " were born. These little offspring grew big and followed in their father's footsteps. They took over the running of houses. The police became totally inadequate at preventing this as the women denied the entry of Don Juan and the Moonies.
The gods could see the threat of the " Moonies" and realised that they needed to do something very quickly before the whole of the city was taken over.
The gods returned to the clouds for another committee meeting. Zeus asked the gods for suggestions. Apollo, the god of war said that they needed a superhero, a man with god like qualities who could save the city from Don Juan. The four gods thought and thought and finally Zeus thought of Mr. Kleen himself, Richard Branson," Super Virgin ". He was the only person who could rescue the city from its decline.
Zeus called him and asked him if he would come up with an idea to save the city from attack. Richard Branson thought quickly, and said that he would open a shop called " The House of Virgin " and he would act as the shopkeeper along with his team of helpers. When Don Juan and the Moonies entered the shop they would be recognised immediately and Richard Branson and his helpers would offer them free contraceptives. This would prevent reproduction that follows entry into the houses, and this would protect the city from further invasion.
The four gods thought Richard Branson's idea was brilliant and " The House of Virgin" was established. As soon as Don Juan and the Moonies invaded the shop Richard Branson and his helpers distributed the free contraceptives. This prevented the reproductive cycle from occurring and no more little Mooney's were born. It was a highly successful scheme.
*Don Juan and the Moonies represent viruses. Viruses have the ability to take over the body's cells. A virus is an incomplete part of a cell containing nucleic acid and protein. It doesn't contain organelles, so the only way a virus can survive is to find a living cell and take over its function. The body will try to attack a virus before it enters the cell; macrophages, anti-bodies and complement proteins can all do this. However, once the virus enters the cell they are immune from the general levels of immunity, so they need a specific form of attack. There are two specific means of dealing with viruses inside cells.
1) Alpha and Beta Interferon
2) T cell Immunity along with natural killer cells and macrophages.
1)Alpha and Beta interferon are produced by macrophages, T- Lymphocytes and natural killer cells. When a virus enters an interferon-producing cell the interferon then diffuses into adjacent cells, which produce anti-viral proteins to block the virus from reproducing. This corresponds to the "House of Virgin" set up by the superhero Richard Branson and the distribution of contraceptives to prevent reproduction, but not entry. Interferon also inhibits cancer cells.
2)T- Lymphocytes, natural killer cells and macrophages are enhanced in the presence of viruses.
However, the effects were not long lasting and the invaders still destroyed the city, and the inhabitants, despite these means. There were still not enough protective mechanisms. The police force and defence systems were not strong enough. They needed a new strategy.
Zeus studied the situation. He watched the city carefully and he could see that the invaders were in disguise, and walked the street without recognition.
Zeus and the three other gods devised a whole new system of defence. All the defenders up to this point were very general in their approach and they could not recognise the invaders when they were in disguise. The SAS were set up to recognise specific invaders. They used a " new remote control laser finger-printing machine" to recognise individuals. The fingerprints taken were then matched to records to see if the person was an invader or a city dweller. A group of SAS members were specifically trained to use " the remote control laser finger printing machine " and they were specially trained to kill and destroy that member. Each specific member needed a specific group trained to kill him or her. They were destroyed instantaneously. It was a brilliant system.
*Specific invaders represent the specific immune system. There are two divisions of the specific immune system, which are the B- Lymphocytes and the T- Lymphocytes. Recognition by the specific immune system is by each unique bacteria or virus being identified. Every type is recognised. The B. Lymphocytes corresponds to the SAS with the remote control laser finger printing machine. Every human being has a different fingerprint and in just the same way, each different bacteria or virus has different characteristics. The characteristic of the virus or bacteria that identifies it as being unique is described as an antigen. The function of the specific immune lymphocytes is to identify each particular strain of virus or bacteria and it does this by identifying the antigen. Once this identification has occurred a specialist troop of attackers is created to deal purely with the particular type of bacteria or virus*
The specific immune system is therefore a more powerful form of defence, but it takes time to come into operation.
The first division of the specific immune system is the B- Lymphocytes and antibodies. Before the B- Lymphocyte can react the antigen must be processed by the macrophages. Once the macrophage processes the antigen the specific B- Lymphocytes meet with the antigen and it changes into a plasma cell. The plasma cells produce antibodies, which destroy the bacteria. Specific antibodies are produced specifically for one type of bacteria. Antibodies can neutralise bacteria and viruses. However, antibodies can only attack a virus if the virus is outside the cell. Once the virus takes up residence in the cell it becomes immune from the effects of the antibody.
The process of antibody production is mediated by:
1) Interleukin 1, which enhances the production of antibodies
2) The T helper and T suppressor cells have a regulatory effect on antibodies. The T helper cells encourage the production of antibodies and the T suppressor cells discourage the production of antibodies.
The antibodies of the specific immune system will enhance the action of the non-specific immune system. They activate the classical complement pathway, phagocytosis and natural killer cells and enhance phagocytosis in the same way as complement proteins.
Antibody formation takes time to happen, but once activated the memory cells are stored which allows an almost instantaneous production of antibodies directly on the second exposure. This is how immunity is built up.
Zeus found that this system was working and it was a very effective way of killing the invader in the street. As soon as the invader was spotted the troops eradicated them. However even with this system two problems occurred:
1) The training of the SAS took time and in that time the invaders caused damage. It was fine when they were trained as the invaders were then destroyed instantaneously.
2) Don Juan and the Moonies were destroyed in the street, but they were safe in the household. When the SAS knocked on the door the householder protected Don Juan and the Moonies
So Zeus set up the second division of the SAS called the Bomb squad. The SAS bomb squad looked for two fingerprints, the fingerprint of the householder and the fingerprint of the invader. These could be detected on all the doorknobs of the houses being invaded by Don Juan and the Moonies. As soon as both sets of fingerprints were found this special division of the bomb squad arrived and blew the house up and with it the invader and the householder. Don Juan and the Moonies were finally under control. This, however, was not without cost, as many of the householders were killed in the process. However, the police force, the SAS group dealing with the "remote control laser finger printing machine", and the SAS bomb squad finally controlled the invaders. The number of attacks lessened and the damage was almost eliminated.
The SAS bomb squad corresponds to T. Lymphocyte production. T. Lymphocytes are produced specifically to deal with viruses and cancer cells. The fundamental difference between B- and T- Lymohocytes is that the T- Lymphocytes need two fingerprints on the target cell, a foreign specific antigen and a home antigen. A B- Lymphocyte needs only one antigen. For example if the T- Lymphocyte meets a bacteria circulating in the blood stream it has a foreign antigen on it, but it does not have a home antigen i.e. it doesn't have a fingerprint corresponding to a part of the body, so the T- Lymphocyte leaves it alone. The T- Lymphocyte latches onto a virus-containing cell that has both a foreign antigen and a home antigen
The T- Lymphocytes corresponds to Don Juan and the Moonies taking up residence in the household. T- Lymphocytes have two fingerprints on the door handle. One corresponds to the householder and one corresponds to the invader. Once recognised the Cytotoxic T. Lymphocytes blow up the cell containing the virus (cytolysis). Cytolysis splits open the membrane and the contents leak out and the result is that the virus and the whole cell are destroyed. T- Lymphocytes also stimulates the production of interferon.
The memory T. Lymphocytes produces cytotoxic cells quickly in response to a second exposure to a virus. Cytotoxic T cells directly kill the infected cell and produce interferon in the same way as the the T- Lymphocytes.
The city was happy for many years.
As time passed by a new type of problem occurred, the defence forces started to make mistakes. It had three problems:
4) It started to attack the food supplies and treated them as invaders.
5) The defence system lost its ability for accurate recognition and attacked it's own people.
6) Certain areas of the city were destroyed by its own defence system.
Thus the effective defence system that the gods had built, and which had finally protected the city from evil invaders went into decline. It attacked the food and it also killed its own people. Finally the defence system killed all the people in the city.
* The attack on the food supply is equivalent to an allergic response and the attack on the city by its own people represents auto-immune diseases*
© Copyright Wholistic Research Company 2001
Click here for additional copyright information. |
| Links to Related Articles... | |
|
|
| Book Reviews : Inspiring Books | Case Studies & Testimonials | Common Health Problems | Complementary Medicine: Treatment & Therapies | Did You Know.........?? | Editor's Private Notebook | Feature Articles | Feng Shui Newsletters | First Time Visitor? | Fitness, Sports & Health | Health Issues In The News | Health Professionals | Healthy Eating! | How Your Body Works | Lifestyle & Nutrition | Meet The Health Team | Positive News Towards Health, Harmony, Happiness |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
