Immune Functions
The immune system is equal in complexity to the combined intricacies of the brain and nervous system. The success of the immune system in defending the body relies on a dynamic regulatory communication network consisting of millions and millions of cells. Organized into sets and subsets,these cells pass information back and forth like clouds of bees flying around a hive (蜂巢). The result is a sensitive system of checks and balances that produces an immune response that is prompt, appropriate effective, and self-limiting.
At the heart of the immune system is the ability to distinguish between self and no self. When immune defenders encounter cells or organisms carrying foreign or nonself molecules,the immune troops move quickly to eliminate the intruders(入侵者). Virtually every body cell carries distinctive molecules that identify it as self. The body’s immune defenses do not normally attack tissues that carry a selfmarker. Rather, immune cells and other body cells coexist peaceably in s state known as self-toler-ance. When a normally functioning immune system attacks a nonself molecule, the system has the ability to"remember" the specifics of the foreign body. Upon subsequent encounters with the same species of molecules, the immune system reacts accordingly. With the possible exception of antibodies(抗体) passed during lactation (哺乳期]), this so called immune system memory is not inherited. Despite the occurrence of a virus in your family,your immune system must "learn" from experience with the many millions of distinctive nonself molecules in the sea of microbes (微生物)in which we live. Learning entails producing the appropriate molecules and cells to match up with and counteract each nonself invader.
Any substance capable of triggering an immune response is called an antigen(抗原). Antigens are not to be confused with allergens (过敏原), which are most often harmless substances that provoke the immune system to set off the inappropriate and harmful response known as allergy. An antigen can be a virus, a bacterium or even a portion or product of one of these organisms. Tissues or cells from another individual also act as antigens;because the immune system recognizes transplanted tissues as foreign, it rejects them. The body will even reject nourishing proteins unless they are first brokendown by the digestive system into their primary, nonantigenic building blocks. An antigen announces its foreignness by means of intricate and characteristic shapes called epitopes(抗原表位),which protrude(突 出) from its suce. Most antigens, even the st microbes, carry several different kinds of epitopes on their suce; some may even carry several hundreds. Some epitopes will be more effective than others at stimulating an immune response. Only in abnormal situation does the immune system wrongly identify self as nonself and execute a misdirected immune attack.
Immune FunctionsThe immune cells and other cells in the body coexist peaceably in a state known as