Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Explain why in order to digest the bacteria which organelle must be plentiful in macrophages.

All cells have lysosomes, organelles which contain enzymes
used to digest materials that are either created inside or brought into the cell. For
many cells, this is just a way to break down foods, but for macrophages the cell's main
job is to ingest and break down bacteria and other foreign bodies. Because of this, we
have a term specifically for the digestive process of macrophages, in which we find
digestive sacs known as phagolysosomes. A phagolysosome is formed
when a phagosome, which is the membrane-enclosed packet containing the material
ingested, fuses with a lysosome. To see an animation of this process, click on the link
below.


Since macrophages engulf a lot of bacteria and other
particles, they create a lot of phagosomes. Therefore we would expect to see a lot of
lysosomes present inside a macrophage, so that they could join with the phagosomes and
form phagolysosomes. The other link below provides detailed information on the chemical
digestion process that occurs within the phagolysosome.

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