Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis

Basically, cells eat the other cells.

The story of Mr Microbe getting shanked.

1. A microbe is floating around, livin' it large and bare dissin' surrounding crews.
2. A neutrophil (for example) feels it, and goes "naah you ain't sticking round here".
3. It tries to wrap around it. If the microbe has a thick jelly round it, it might need help from a substance called an opsonin (greek 'to prepare for eating').
4. Once it is totally encapsulated (endocytosis), the microbe finds itself trapped in a little vesicle inside the neutrophil.
5. The vesicle is fused with another inside the leukocyte - a lysosome. Lysosomes have loads of enzymes for mashing up microbes.
6. The microbe is battered royally.
7. The bits left over are either absorbed into the neutrophil, or spat out (exocytosed).
8. The Neutrophil is bigged up by his homies, and gets bare 'spect.