'Couch potato' Macrophage (IMAGE)

University of Cambridge

'Couch potato' Macrophage

Caption

Smoke-clogged alveolar macrophages of cigarette smokers are unable to move to engulf infecting TB bacilli, which may explain why cigarette smokers are more susceptible to tuberculosis. The image shows where TB bacilli accumulate near a 'couch-potato' smoker macrophage while a normal macrophage in the background is picking up infecting TB bacteria.

Credit

Kevin Takaki and drawn by Paul Margiotta

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