page_title: Phagocyte
hierarchical_section_title: Phagocyte
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Eine REM-Aufnahme eines neutrophilen Granulozyten (gelb) beim Aufnehmen von Anthrax-Bakterien (orange).Maßstab: Der weiße Strich links unten ist 5 Mikrometer lang. English: Neutrophil engulfing anthrax bacteria, taken with a Leo 1550 scanning electron microscope. Scale bar is 5 micrometers. Français&#160;: Un neutrophile (en jaune) phagocytant des bacilles du charbon (en orange). Photo prise avec un microscope electronique. Echelle: 5 microns. Nederlands: Elektronenmicroscopieopname van fagocytose tussen een fagocyt (geel) en miltvuurbacteriën (oranje) Español: Neutrófilo (en amarillo) engullendo una bacteria de carbunco o ántrax (en naranja). Fotografía tomada con un microscopio de electrones Leo 1550. La escala son 5 micrómetros. Tiếng Việt: Hình ảnh chụp bằng kính hiển vi điện tử quét cho thấy vi khuẩn Salmonella (nhuộm màu đỏ) xâm nhập vào tế bào của con người. Salmonella là tác nhân gây ra sốt thương hàn và ngộ độc thực phẩm. 中文（繁體）‎: 嗜中性白血球正在吞噬鼠疫桿菌。此電子顯微鏡影像由Leo 1550掃描式電顯拍攝。左下角比例尺為5微米。
context_page_description: Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. They were discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery. Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.
  Phagocytes of humans and other animals are called "professional" or "non-professional" depending on how effective they are at phagocytosis. The professional phagocytes include many types of white blood cells.
context_section_description: Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. They were discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery. Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.
  Phagocytes of humans and other animals are called "professional" or "non-professional" depending on how effective they are at phagocytosis. The professional phagocytes include many types of white blood cells (such as neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and dendritic cells). The main difference between professional and non-professional phagocytes is that the professional phagocytes have molecules called receptors on their surfaces that can detect harmful objects, such as bacteria, that are not normally found in the body. Phagocytes are crucial in fighting infections, as well as in maintaining healthy tissues by removing dead and dying cells that have reached the end of their lifespan.
  During an infection, chemical signals attract phagocytes to places where the pathogen has invaded the body. These chemicals may come from bacteria or from other phagocytes already present. The phagocytes move by a method called chemotaxis. When phagocytes come into contact with bacteria, the receptors on the phagocyte's surface will bind to them.  This binding will lead to the engulfing of the bacteria by the phagocyte. Some phagocytes kill the ingested pathogen with oxidants and nitric oxide. After phagocytosis, macrophages and dendritic cells can also participate in antigen presentation, a process in which a phagocyte moves parts of the ingested material back to its surface. This material is then displayed to other cells of the immune system. Some phagocytes then travel to the body's lymph nodes and display the material to white blood cells called lymphocytes. This process is important in building immunity, and many pathogens have evolved methods to evade attacks by phagocytes.
caption: Scanning electron micrograph of a neutrophil phagocytosing anthrax bacilli (orange)
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