The immune and lymphatic systems, infection and sepsis
Peate Ian, Dutton Helen in Acute Nursing Care, 2020
The spleen is located just under the diaphragm in the upper left quadrant of the abdominal cavity, curving around the anterior aspect of the stomach; it is supplied by the splenic artery which enters at the hilus. The main functions of the largest lymphoid organ are: Surveillance for infection;Lymphocyte propagation;Filtering and cleaning of the blood from blood-borne pathogens and toxins;Storage of platelets and removal of ageing, faulty platelets and red blood cells and the extraction and storage of iron for the production of haemoglobin.
The Lymphatic/Immune System and Its Disorders
Walter F. Stanaszek, Mary J. Stanaszek, Robert J. Holt, Steven Strauss in Understanding Medical Terms, 2020
Other organs also contain significant amounts of lymphoid tissue, and their location helps protect the body from invaders. On each side of the throat is a mass of lymphoid tissue called a palatine tonsil (tonsilla palatina or simply tonsil), which acts as a source of phagocytes (phagocytic cells) to the mouth and pharynx to destroy bacteria. The spleen, located in the upper abdominal cavity, consists largely of lymphoid tissue and destroys red blood cells, serves as a reservoir of blood, and produces monocytes (known specifically as splenocytes) in the fetus and newborn. The thymus also produces monocytes and lymphocytes in the fetus and newborn, but the organ usually undergoes involution after early childhood.
Lymphocytes and The Immune Response
Richard C. Niemtzow in Transmembrane Potentials and Characteristics of Immune and Tumor Cell, 2020
The spleen is a large encapsulated organ which filters debris and antigens from the blood. The subcapsular area is the red pulp, which contains a reticular fiber network supporting fixed macrophages as well as T and B lymphocytes and other blood cell types. The macrophages play an important role in trapping antigens within the spleen. The red pulp surrounds the marginal zone, which contains sinuses around the periarterial zone and functions in a manner similar to the postcapillary vessels in lymph nodes. The periarterial zone (white pulp) is organized around the central arteries of the spleen. White pulp contains T cell areas (periarterial lymphoid sheath) and B cell areas (germinal centers). After antigen is trapped in the red pulp and concentrated in the germinal centers, plasma cells begin to appear in the germinal centers.
Panax ginseng improves physical recovery and energy utilization on chronic fatigue in rats through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2023
Guolei Zhang, BoFan Lu, Enhui Wang, Wei Wang, Zheng Li, Lili Jiao, Hui Li, Wei Wu
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) expounds that the spleen is the foundation of acquired constitution, the biochemistry and transportation of Qi, as well as the nourishment of the heart (Li X et al. 2020). Fatigue is a typical manifestation of spleen deficiency. Patients with ‘spleen deficiency’ have nutrient absorption disorders, which can be manifested as diarrhoea, abdominal distension, weight loss, malnutrition, weakness of limbs, and decreased anti-stress ability, etc. These symptoms are like the rat fatigue model established in this experiment. In TCM, P. ginseng belongs to the spleen, lung and heart meridian, which could nourish the Qi of the spleen, lungs and heart, enrich the acquired essence and nourish the innate essence. ‘Reinforcing vital energy’ was the classic effect of P. ginseng (Sun et al. 2016). This study shows that medicinal and edible P. ginseng could quickly restore the physical strength of fatigued rats and prevent weight loss. P. ginseng can improve the sugar uptake ability and glycogen synthesis ability of skeletal muscle cells in fatigued rats, reduce blood LD value and serum urea nitrogen content, prolong the swimming time of rats, and finally show an anti-fatigue effect. This result is consistent with the traditional effect of P. ginseng in TCM.
Effect of sleep deprivation and daylight restriction on the immune response to Escherichia coli-induced septicemia in Wistar rats
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2023
Abayomi O. Ige, Esther O. Agbo, Dorcas J. Brown, Olakunle O. Mebude, Elsie O. Adewoye
An assessment of spleen samples is shown in Figure 6 (A-F). Samples in group I, the control group, showed spleen with normal architecture that had normal white pulp with no observable lesions (A). Spleen samples from animals in group II (ECIS only) exhibited follicular lymphoid hyperplasia (B) while samples in group III (Sleep deprived (12 hours) + ECIS) showed congestion of the vascular spaces and moderate melanomacrophage hyperplasia (C). In group IV (Sleep deprived (96 hours) + ECIS), spleen samples exhibited moderate follicular lymphoid hyperplasia with tingible body macrophages (D). Spleen samples in group V (Daylight restricted (12 hours) + ECIS) showed moderate follicular lymphoid depletion (E) while samples in group VI (Daylight restricted (96 hours) + ECIS) exhibited moderate follicular lymphoid and melanomacrophage hyperplasia as well as numerous tingible body macrophages (F).
Spontaneous spleen rupture mimicking non-specific thoracic pain: A rare case in physiotherapy practice
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2023
Carla Sforza, Michele Margelli, Firas Mourad, Fabrizio Brindisino, John D. Heick, Filippo Maselli
Atypical and heterogeneous clinical presentations are frequent in clinical practice and highlight the need for a proper training to enhance clinical reasoning skills. Wehbe, Raffi, and Osborne (2008) described the case of a 61-year-old patient with a complicated clinical history due to overlapping pathologies and the appearance of stabbing pain on the left upper quadrant of the abdomen and left shoulder. The patient was referred to the emergency department with marked tenderness to the upper left quadrant with a positive Blumberg test. Similar symptoms were described by Carlin, Walker, and Pappachan (2014) with a patient under the influence of heroin, after fainting. Roche, Maloku, and Abdel-Aziz (2014) described a case of spleen injury caused by a cytomegalovirus infection: the patient was referred to the emergency department after 3 days of worsening pain in the RUQ and nonproductive cough and vomiting. During the physical examination, the patient’s abdominal pain was elicited with a Murphy test. Kocael et al. (2014) in a retrospective study identified 12 patients that were diagnosed with non-traumatic rupture of the spleen caused by abuse of anticoagulants. The prevalent clinical feature of patients with a non-traumatic spleen lesion is abdominal pain associated with a heterogeneous spectrum of systemic alterations; notably, in all cases, patients were assessed in the emergency department and presented with cardiovascular hypovolemia.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Globin
- Lymph Node
- Mononuclear Phagocyte System
- Blood
- Immune System
- Hemoglobin
- Red Blood Cell
- Senescence
- Shock
- Iron Metabolism