White Blood Cell Facts

• Mature WBC’s do have a nucleus

• Less numerous than RBC’s, but still 60
billion in the avg.. adult
• Bone marrow and lymphatic tissue produce
1 million WBC’s per second
• Have ability to move like an ameba to
squeeze through capillary walls and attack
foreign invaders amongst the body tissue
“Soldiers of the Blood”
• “The soldiers of
the immune
system are six
kinds of WBC’s
that all come
from a single
stem cell in the
bone marrow.”
“Instant Defense”
 Instant Defense Details
• “The body’s first, nonspecific response to
infection involves four different cells:
– neutrophils, which engulf bacteria upon contact &
send out early-warning signals
– monocytes, which turn into macrophages that
swallow up invaders
– eosinophils, which attack parasites
– basophils, whose histamines are related to
allergies.”
 The macrophage will then display the antigen or
“invader”, in this case E. coli on the surface of its
plasma or cell membrane.

The macrophage will then go to a lymph node where

a B cell or T cell will recognize the antigen.
 “Later Defense” Lymphocytes

The lymphocytes (special WBC’s) B cells and

T cells are more specifically tailored to an antigen
are activated to the field of battle.
The Helper T cells will now coordinate the entire
immune response to the antigen or “invader”. They
are basically the quarterback of the immune system.
They can increase the number of antibody producing
plasma cells in the case of a bacteria invasion or
activate those appropriately called killer t cells in the
case of a virus.
Antibodies will attack bacteria!
Killer t cell destroys virus!
The last step is remembering that antigen or “invader”.
Memory T or B cells are created that can last a lifetime.
If the same antigen enters the body the memory cells
trigger instant activation of the later defense lymphocytes.
Skipping the first steps explains why the same antigen
doesn’t usually make us sick a second time.
Cancer of the cells that produce WBC’s,
resulting in abnormally high numbers of
certain dysfunctional WBC’s.

Click here to return.