Page 93 - The Miracle of the Blood and Heart

Blood: The Incomparable
Liquid of Life

names they are given stem from the functions they perform. In
addition, it's also important to understand the division of
labor between them. Therefore, it will be useful first of all to
examine the process known as phagocytosis that neutrophils
carry out. This process is a method applied also by
macrophages, the mature form of monocytes.
Phagocytosis is sufficient evidence to show how a cell
employs intelligence. A cunning attacker that invades the

(a)The macrophage extends a
protrusion, or pseudopod,
toward the multiplying bacteri-
um. (b) In this way, the bacteri-
um is trapped by the
macrophage. (c) The
macrophage sucks the bacteria
in along with its own cell mem-
brane, and destroys them with powerful lysosomal enzymes. However,
that is by no means the end of the defense process. In order to clean
up the waste products left over from the bacterium's remains, the
macrophage takes its identifying proteins and attaches them to
itself like a pennant. This pennant allows another defense cell—
the lymphocyte—to acquire information about similar bacte- Adnan
ria that may have entered the body.
Oktar

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