Monocyte

From NKcells.info

A monocyte is a WikiPedia:white blood cell, part of the WikiPedia:human body's WikiPedia:immune system. It is one of the 5 major types of white blood cell, based on the appearance of white blood cells, in stained smears, as viewed under a light microscope.

Monocytes evolve from the bone marrow, circulate in the blood stream for about a day and then typically move into tissues, where, for historical reasons, they are called macrophages, or other names.

Monocytes are responsible for WikiPedia:phagocytosis, or WikiPedia:digestion, of foreign substances in the body. On a Wright's stained peripheral blood smear, monocytes appear larger than WikiPedia:red blood cells and have a blueish-grey WikiPedia:cytoplasm with a large cytoplasm to nuclear ratio. Vacuolization may be present in a cell that has recently phagocytized foreign matter.

Monocytes which migrate from the blood stream to other tissues are called macrophages. Macrophages are responsible for protecting tissues from foreign substances but are also the predominate cells involved in WikiPedia:atherosclerosis.

A WikiPedia:monocyte count is part of a complete WikiPedia:blood cell count and is expressed as a ratio of monocytes to the total number of white blood cells counted.

References

Plewako H, Wosinska K, Arvidsson M, Bjorkander J, Hakansson L, Rak S.
Production of interleukin-12 by monocytes and interferon-gamma by natural killer cells in allergic patients during rush immunotherapy.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2006 Oct;97(4):464-8., PMID:17069100

Sconocchia G, Keyvanfar K, El Ouriaghli F, Grube M, Rezvani K, Fujiwara H, McCoy JP, Hensel N, Barrett AJ.
Phenotype and function of a CD56+ peripheral blood monocyte.
Leukemia. 2004 Nov 04;. Epub, PMID:15526027

Source

Initial version of this article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Further edited as an collaborative approach to focus on information related to Natural Killer cells and Innate Immunity.

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