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Lymphoid architecture - the meeting places that spark the body’s immune reactivity: design and dynamics 1

Part 1 of 2
Published on June 30, 2021   35 min

Other Talks in the Series: The Immune System - Key Concepts and Questions

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Hello, I'm Simon Hunt working in the School of Pathology at Oxford University. I'm going to talk today about lymphoid architecture. The way the immune system organs are designed to promote the initiation of adaptive immune responses and then their amplification and the effector mechanisms, like antibody production and cytotoxic T cell generation. The key parts of this have to do with the secondary lymphoid organs, which has a meeting point where the foreign antigens get in touch with the lymphocytes, in particular, the specific cells of the adaptive immune system to trigger them off and make an immune response get underway. The point I really want to emphasize in this talk is how dynamic the whole system is. It's dynamic in terms of time, obviously, and I want you to get a feel for how the immune response does progress over time. It also is dynamic over space. The cells of the body are continually moving from one part of the body to another, especially through the lymphoid organs. That's the essence of what I want to talk about. I also like you to pick up on the fundamental idea that this is a Darwinian system. The lymphocytes are selected for their ability to respond in the first place. Then, you get a refinement of improved specificity and affinity as time goes on. It's one of the key ways in which the body can keep up with the variation in the natural world outside. Now, here, I've got a lymphocyte about to eat me up at the back here. This is a progressing lymphocyte already showing dynamic changes in time and space, so I'd better get on. I'll introduce the background first and then we'll give you an idea of where the slides are headed to.

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Lymphoid architecture - the meeting places that spark the body’s immune reactivity: design and dynamics 1

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