Quiz Part III Inflammation

Non-Specific Immune Defense 

In Part II of the Immune System, we discussed non-specific Immune defenses such as physical barriers (skin, mucus etc), chemical protection (tears, saliva, etc) and the microbiome. There is another important part of our non-specific immune defense: inflammation. 

Inflammation 

The classic signs of inflammation is when a tissue is warm, red, swollen, and painful. This can seem like a bad thing, but really it is a sign that there is increased blood flow to the area and that our immune system is involved in a clean up operation. Once the WBC's have mopped up the mess, the tissue should return to normal. Chronic inflammation  is a different situation. Chronic inflammation lasts a long time in tissues that shouldn't experience it (like asthma when the lining of the lungs is inflamed.)  

In this video, I go over the process of inflammation.  You will want to focus on the study guide question:

4. What is inflammation and what are its benefits? What are capillaries and what does it mean when they ''leak''? What causes capillaries to become leaky? What leaks out of the capillaries? What type of WBC's are involved in inflammation?  What is the role of histamines? What are the signs of inflammation and when are these a good thing? What is the role of phagocytic WBC's? How does this process connect with specific immunity? 

Full transcript of Inflammation lecture video (Word doc)