The complement system involves:
a. The production of antigens and antibodies
b. Serum proteins involved in nonspecific defense
c. A set of genes that distinguish foreign cells from body cells
d. The elimination of undigested remnants of microorganisms

Question

The complement system involves:

a. The production of antigens and antibodies

b. Serum proteins involved in nonspecific defense

c. A set of genes that distinguish foreign cells from body cells

d. The elimination of undigested remnants of microorganisms

Accepted Answer

Hi, everyone. Let's take a look at the next problem. The primary role of the complement system in the immune response is blank A to produce and release histamines B to enhance the ability of antibodies and FEG acidic cells to clear pathogens C to generate memory cells for future infections or D to stimulate the production of white blood cells. Well, I don't know about you, but when I see compliment system, I always get a bit nervous. I find, you know, the immune system in general is really complex and the complement system is definitely sometimes hard to sort of really get a grasp on and understand how it interacts with the immune system. But in this particular question, our answers are kind of at a really general level. So we don't have to have this, you know, deep understanding of every nuance here to get the answer to this one. So as we walk through our answers, we have a to produce and release histamines. Well, when we see histamines, kind of the association we always have with that first is allergic reactions and the complement system does not participate in the release of histamines. These are mass cells and basophils that release them. Now, the complement system does have a part to play in inflammation. It sort of uh promotes the inflammation reactions but not by means of histamines. So choice a fairly easy to rule out choice B to enhance the ability of antibodies and vagus that excels to clear pathogens. Well, notice that the name of the system is a complement system and if we remember that it complements the role of antibodies and big acidic cells that helps us remember, this is its primary purpose. Choice B will be our answer. So basically, it's part of the innate immune system that's very important to remember. So importantly, this is non-specific responses to things and it's a series of small proteins. So these are not cells, specific cells doing these things, they circulate in the blood plasma. And when these proteins are activated, activated, they cause a cascade of events. And just in terms of an overview, the things that are involved in this and again, this is gets pretty complicated. And as as as is true with the immune system, overall, different parts of the immune system kind of cover multiple things. There's a lot of redundancy built in because the immune system is so important. So things the complement system is involved in with these cascade events are ization and I'll let each of these things is sort of a key word to help us remember the essence of it. So optimization I always think of it as flagging things for destruction. So optimization is when the complement system coats pathogens with complement proteins that sort of mark them out, like destroy these. And then chemotaxis, I think of as summoning. So that basically attracts phagocytes is the site of an infection. So again, we're talking about how it enhances the abilities of antibodies and FEG acidic cells. So when there's an infection, the complement proteins are there sort of summoning these FEG acidic cells like you're needed. Over here, here's the infection cell lysis, they have the rather, you know, great name M ac membrane attack complex that creates pores and pathogen membranes causing them to be laced and then general promotion of inflammation that was mentioned earlier, they increase vascular permeability and attract immune cells. So just generally being support staff helping that immune response to be more efficient. Just retouching on our other remaining answer. Choices. Choice C to generate memory cells. While we remember that memory cells are a specific response generated after an immune response to a new pathogen. And these memory cells are kept around so that if the body encounters a specific pathogen, again, it has a very rapid specific response. So that's part of the adaptive immune system. And specifically the B and T cells are involved in that B and T cells. So that's not a correct description of the function of the complement system and enjo D to stimulate the production of white blood cells. Well, this is something that goes on in the bone marrow as we can recall. And that production is controlled and regulated by cytokines and growth factors. It's not part of the complement system. So once again, the primary role of the complement system and the immune response is choice B to enhance the ability of antibodies and vocci excels to clear pathogens. See you in the next video.

The complement system involves:
a. The production of antigens and antibodies
b. Serum proteins involved in nonspecific defense
c. A set of genes that distinguish foreign cells from body cells
d. The elimination of undigested remnants of microorganisms

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Complement System

Innate vs. Adaptive Immunity

Role of Serum Proteins in Defense

The complement system involves:a. The production of antigens and antibodiesb. Serum proteins involved in nonspecific defensec. A set of genes that distinguish foreign cells from body cellsd. The elimination of undigested remnants of microorganisms

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Complement System

Innate vs. Adaptive Immunity

Role of Serum Proteins in Defense

The complement system involves:
a. The production of antigens and antibodies
b. Serum proteins involved in nonspecific defense
c. A set of genes that distinguish foreign cells from body cells
d. The elimination of undigested remnants of microorganisms