NEET MDS Lessons
General Microbiology
The cell cycle
1) Labile cells (GI tract, blood cells)
- Described as parenchymal cells that are normally found in the G0 phase that can be stimulated to enter the G1
- Undergo continuous replication, and the interval between two consecutive mitoses is designated as the cell cycle
- After division, the cells enter a gap phase (G1), in which they pursue their own specialized activities
• If they continue in the cycle, after passing the restriction point (R), they are committed to a new round of division
• The G1 phase is followed by a period of nuclear DNA synthesis (S) in which all chromosomes are replicated
• The S phase is followed by a short gap phase (G2) and then by mitosis
• After each cycle, one daughter cell will become committed to differentiation, and the other will continue cycling
2) Stable cells (Hepatocytes, Kidney)
- After mitosis, the cells take up their specialized functions (G0).
- They do not re-enter the cycle unless stimulated by the loss of other cells
3) Permanent cells (neurons)
- Become terminally differentiated after mitosis and cannot re-enter the cell cycle
- Which cells do not have the ability to differentiate -> Cardiac myocytes
NORMAL MICROBIAL FLORA
A. Properties. Normal microbial flora describes the population of microorganisms that usually reside in the body. The microbiological flora can be defined as either
1) Resident flora - A relatively fixed population that will repopulate if disturbed,
2) Transient flora - that are derived from the local environment. These microbes usually reside in the body without invasion and can
even prevent infection by more pathogenic organisms, a phenomenon known as bacterial interference.
The flora have commensal functions such as vitamin K synthesis. However, they may cause invasive disease in immunocompromised hosts or if displaced from their normal area.
B. Location. Microbial flora differ in composition depending on their anatomical locations and microenvironments. The distribution of normal microbial flora.
ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY REACTIONS
Affinity of the antigen-antibody reaction refers to the intensity of the attraction between antigen and antibody molecule.
Antigen-antibody reactions
Reaction test Modified test
Precipitation -> Immunoelectrophoresis, Immunoprecipitation
Agglutination -> Latex agglutination, Indirect, Haemagglutination , Coagglutination ,Coombs test
Neutralization -> Measurement of LD, Plaque assays
Complement fixation -> Conglutination
Immunofluorescence -> Indirect immunofiuorescence, Immunoofluoremetric Assay
Enzyme immunoassay -> Enzyme linked, Immunosorbent assay
Radioimmunoassay -> Immunoradiometric assay
Avidity is the strength of the bond after the formation of antigen-antibody complex.
Sensitivity refers to the ability of the test to detect even very minute quantities of antigen or antibody. A test shall be called as highly sensitive if false negative results are absent or minimal.
Specificity refers to the ability of the test to detect reactions between homologous antigens and antibodies only, and with no other. In a highly specific test, false positive reactions will be minimal or absent.
Autoantibodies
Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) Systemic Lupus
Anti-dsDNA, anti-Smith Specific for Systemic Lupus
Anti-histone Drug-induced Lupus
Anti-IgG Rheumatoid arthritis
Anti-neutrophil Vasculitis
Anti-centromere Scleroderma (CREST)
Anti-Scl-70 Sclerderma (diffuse)
Anti-mitochondria 1oary biliary cirrhosis
Anti-gliadin Celiac disease
Anti-basement membrane Goodpasture’s syndrome
Anti-epithelial cell Pemphigus vulgaris
Anti-microsomal Hashimoto’s thryoiditis
NITRIC OXIDE-DEPENDENT KILLING
Binding of bacteria to macrophages, particularly binding via Toll-like receptors, results in the production of TNF-alpha, which acts in an autocrine manner to induce the expression of the inducible nitric oxide synthetase gene (i-nos ) resulting in the production of nitric oxide (NO) . If the cell is also exposed to interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) additional nitric oxide will be produced (figure 12). Nitric oxide released by the cell is toxic and can kill microorganism in the vicinity of the macrophage.
ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY REACTIONS
I. NATURE OF ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY REACTIONS
A. Lock and Key Concept
The combining site of an antibody is located in the Fab portion of the molecule and is constructed from the hypervariable regions of the heavy and light chains. Antigen-antibody reactions is one of a key (i.e. the antigen) which fits into a lock (i.e. the antibody).
B. Non-covalent Bonds
The bonds that hold the antigen to the antibody combining site are all non-covalent in nature. These include hydrogen bonds, electrostatic bonds, Van der Waals forces and hydrophobic bonds.
C. Reversibility
Since antigen-antibody reactions occur via non-covalent bonds, they are by their nature reversible.
II. AFFINITY AND AVIDITY
A. Affinity
Antibody affinity is the strength of the reaction between a single antigenic determinant and a single combining site on the antibody. It is the sum of the attractive and repulsive forces operating between the antigenic determinant and the combining site of the antibody .
B. Avidity
Avidity is a measure of the overall strength of binding of an antigen with many antigenic determinants and multivalent antibodies. Avidity is influenced by both the valence of the antibody and the valence of the antigen. Avidity is more than the sum of the individual affinities.
III. SPECIFICITY AND CROSS REACTIVITY
A. Specificity
Specificity refers to the ability of an individual antibody combining site to react with only one antigenic determinant or the ability of a population of antibody molecules to react with only one antigen. In general, there is a high degree of specificity in antigen-antibody reactions.
B. Cross reactivity
Cross reactivity refers to the ability of an individual antibody combining site to react with more than one antigenic determinant or the ability of a population of antibody molecules to react with more than one antigen.