What is the immune system?
Broadly speaking, the immune system can be broken down into 2 categories
- The adaptive immune system
- The innate immune system
The adaptive immune system
The adaptive immune system is made up of:
- Lymphocytes (cytotoxic T-cells, T-helper cells, gamma-delta T-cells)
- B-cells
- Antibodies.
The innate immune system
The innate immune system includes:
- Physical barriers (skin, mucous membranes, tears, saliva, stomach acid)
- Phagocytes and cell that release inflammatory cytokines (natural killer cells, monocytes, macrophage, mast cells)
- Complement.
