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Though it's been there forever in our gut, U.S. and Swiss scientists have discovered how a type of white blood cell literally shoots off a catapult to snatch and net the villains invading our body.
University of Utah researchers, who collaborated with the Swiss, call the findings fascinating.
Researchers like Dr. Gerald Gleich at the University of Utah have long known about a type of white blood cell called the eosinophil. But what they didn't know is the rapid, almost chilling way it works. "The rapidity with which this occurs, and then the rapidity of the killing, which again is quite quick," Gleich said.
Through the consumption of food, E. coli, or some other invader, makes it way to our gut. If our immune system is not compromised, eosinophils explode, literally catapulting a net around the villains.
In our digestive system, these cells form a pathway from the top of the stomach to the end of the large intestine. Though playing out microscopically, you couldn't make a movie with a more dramatic and embellished hero.
Gleich said, "It gets into the tissues, activates that eosinophil, and then the eosinophil casts its toxic net to capture, capture and kill the bacterium."
Knowing how this mechanism works might lead to new therapies for people who are underprotected, or an understanding of the bad side of eosinophils when they overreact, triggering too much inflammation.
Utah and Swiss researchers believe this unique explosive mechanism might use a form of stored energy similar to the way plants propel pollen into the air.
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