• Question: What is an important mechanism white blood cells use to kill bacteri?

    Asked by Alex0822 to Max, Francis, Ben, Lizzie, Sian on 8 Mar 2018. This question was also asked by EvelynT.
    • Photo: Ben Mulhearn

      Ben Mulhearn answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Great question! White blood cells use a variety of mechanisms. One is phagocytosis (this just means cell-eating) where an immune cell will engulf a bacteria. B cells make antibodies which can coat bacteria to make them more ‘visible’ to other immune cells to eat. Look at this video of a neutrophil chasing a bacterium:

    • Photo: Francis Man

      Francis Man answered on 8 Mar 2018:

      Neutrophils have super-cool ways of killing bacteria. Ben mentioned phagocytosis but there are other ways too:
      – they can make proteins that drill holes into bacteria and destroy the membrane (the shell) of bacteria
      – they can make sticky traps (a bit like spiderwebs) that will catch bacteria and destroy them

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