Sean Munroe 3/25/15 Period 8 Body’s Defender goes on the Attack Inflammation, an important response in the immune system for fighting viruses, has also been destroying the very tissues it was meant to heal. Scientists realized the effects inflammation had on rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis years ago; but now scientists are beginning to realize the effects that inflammation has on chronic diseases related to aging including atherosclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and osteoporosis. You may wonder why your inflammatory response has evolved in such a way that it is keeping you alive when younger, but contributing to your aging and “oldness” when you are older. To understand this you need to travel back in time to the hunter-gatherers where injuries and infections was an ever growing problem. To survive that time period the human race evolved a vigorous inflammatory response. Through studying inflammation scientists are looking for solutions to chronic illnesses, particularly in the arteries where heart attacks arise. A huge misconception of heart attacks is that high cholesterol causes most heart attacks. This is wrong, in fact only(only…) 3 out of 10 heart attacks are caused by severe blockages. Instead, most heart attacks are caused when he artery is narrowed to less than half of its capacity. This could not be explained by high cholesterol. Instead, inflammation was in the hot seat, and it had been periodically since the mid-1800’s. By the 1980’s inflammation was a major research topic again, and eventually a new explanation for heart attacks was in place. It is written in the article as follows, “ immune system cells that cause inflammation burrow into the artery wall and begin gobbling up droplets of fat. These fat filled cells form a plaque and inflammation thins its fibrous cap. Eventually the cap ruptures and the plaques contents spill into the bloodstream-- along with pro inflammatory cytokines, which encouraged clotting. Suddenly, the artery fills with a cloud of rapidly coagulating blood
Sean Munroe3/25/15Period 8Bodys Defender goes on the Attack
Inflammation, an important response in the immune system for
fighting viruses, has also been destroying the very tissues it was
meant to heal. Scientists realized the effects inflammation had on
rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis years ago; but now
scientists are beginning to realize the effects that inflammation
has on chronic diseases related to aging including atherosclerosis,
diabetes, Alzheimers disease, and osteoporosis.
You may wonder why your inflammatory response has evolved in
such a way that it is keeping you alive when younger, but
contributing to your aging and oldness when you are older. To
understand this you need to travel back in time to the
hunter-gatherers where injuries and infections was an ever growing
problem. To survive that time period the human race evolved a
vigorous inflammatory response.
Through studying inflammation scientists are looking for
solutions to chronic illnesses, particularly in the arteries where
heart attacks arise. A huge misconception of heart attacks is that
high cholesterol causes most heart attacks. This is wrong, in fact
only(only) 3 out of 10 heart attacks are caused by severe
blockages. Instead, most heart attacks are caused when he artery is
narrowed to less than half of its capacity. This could not be
explained by high cholesterol. Instead, inflammation was in the hot
seat, and it had been periodically since the mid-1800s. By the
1980s inflammation was a major research topic again, and eventually
a new explanation for heart attacks was in place. It is written in
the article as follows, immune system cells that cause inflammation
burrow into the artery wall and begin gobbling up droplets of fat.
These fat filled cells form a plaque and inflammation thins its
fibrous cap. Eventually the cap ruptures and the plaques contents
spill into the bloodstream--along with pro inflammatory cytokines,
which encouraged clotting. Suddenly, the artery fills with a cloud
of rapidly coagulating blood cells. If the cloud is large enough,
it forms a clot that blocks the artery and causes a heart attack or
stroke.
