Elsevier

Advances in Immunology

Volume 39, 1986, Pages 177-253
Advances in Immunology

The Eosinophilic Leukocyte: Structure and Function

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2776(08)60351-XGet rights and content

Publisher Summary

This chapter reviews information on eosinophil structure and function and provide evidence for the eosinophil as an effector cell for killing helrninths and for causing tissue damage in hypersensitivity diseases. The mammalian eosinophil is distinguished by its characteristic granules. The chapter describes specific or secondary granules with an electron-dense core and an electron-radiolucent matrix and two other distinctive types of eosinophil granules as well. While granules with crystalloid cores are characteristic of most mammalian eosinophils—the horse eosinophil is a notable exception—cores have not been observed in lowest vertebrates with the exception of certain teleost fishes and some birds. The evidence reviewed in the chapter indicates that the eosinophil has the ability to kill many species of helminths and likely does so during worm infection. This toxic ability appears to be regulated by several other cells including mast cells, monocytes, and T lymphocytes. It has also been found that an eosinophil-related protein appears to play an undefined role in human reproduction.

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