Medicine Word Today

Memory B cells: Secondary immune-system components that have an affinity for a particular antigen. Like other B cells, memory B cells originate from lymphocytes that develop and are activated in the bone marrow. They become antigen-specific whe...

Red blood cells: The blood cells that carry oxygen. Red cells contain hemoglobin and it is the hemoglobin which permits them to transport oxygen (and carbon dioxide). Hemoglobin, aside from being a transport molecule, is a pigment. It gives the cells t...

Squamous cells: Flat cells that look like fish scales. The word "squamous" came from the Latin squama meaning "the scale of a fish or serpent." We have a lot of squamous cells. They make up most of the cells in the outer layer of the skin (the epider...

Reproductive cells: The eggs and sperm are the reproductive cells. Each mature reproductive cell is haploid in that it has a single set of 23 chromosomes containing half the usual amount of DNA. Except for the eggs and sperm, each cell in the hu...

T-8 cells: T cells that express the CD8 transmembrane glycoprotein (CD8+ T cells). They close down the immune response after invading organisms are destroyed. Suppressor T cells are sensitive to high concentrations of circulating lymphokine ho...

Basal cells: Small, round cells found in the lower part, or base, of the epidermis, the outer layer of the skin.

T-suppressor cells: T cells that express the CD8 transmembrane glycoprotein (CD8+ T cells). They close down the immune response after invading organisms are destroyed. Suppressor T cells are sensitive to high concentrations of circulating lymph...

Red cells: Short for red blood cells, the oxygen/carbon dioxide carrying cells in blood. Also known acronymically as RBC's, red corpuscles or erythrocytes (literally, red hollow vessels).