Novel trends in neutrophil structure, function and development

✍ Scribed by Faustino Mollinedo; Niels Borregaard; Laurence A Boxer

• Book ID: 104299134
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 138 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-5699
• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-5699(99)01500-5

✦ Synopsis

olymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) play a crucial role in host defense by phagocytosing and killing invading microorganisms. Mature PMNs are incapable of cell division, and their sustained generation by the bone marrow at impressive numbers (10 11 cells per day in a normal adult) is the result of a highly controlled, yet incompletely understood, process of myelopoiesis. Precursor cells divide and differentiate from the pluripotent haematopoietic stem cell and proceed to committed stem cells, which provide lineage-restricted progenies. During maturation, PMNs acquire their granule products, which equip the activated PMNs to kill microorganisms.