Observations in animal models have substantially advanced our knowledge of immune system adaptation, changes during the aging process, and age-associated degenerative diseases with autoimmune characteristics.
Animal models provided early proof that discrimination of self (that which the immune system identifies as belonging to the body) and nonself (that which the immune system identifies as foreign to the body) is determined not entirely at conception, but, to a large extent, during early fetal development by a process called immune adaptation. In 1945, Ray D. Owen reported that nonidentical cattle-t…
Most immunologic activities decline with age, but some show an increase, and a few show no significant change. In principle, two types of cellular changes could alter immune functions: changes in the number of immune cells (quantitative change), and changes in the functional efficiency of immune cells (qualitative change). Quantitative change. A modest loss of circulating lymphocytes (15 percent) …
Normal aging is inevitably associated with an overall decline of functional performance of all tissues (systemic change). However, some individuals develop degenerative diseases with autoimmune characteristics, resulting in the aging of tissue-specific cells (organ-specific change). Systemic change. Although the complex mechanisms of the primary processes of aging are unknown, many theories have b…
Animal models have substantially enhanced our understanding of the role of the immune system in tissue physiology and pathology. The dominant role belongs to MDCs, which influence the function of lymphocytes. The relationship Figure 2 Tissue Development and Longevity—the relationship between the period of tissue differentiation during immune adaptation (ia) and determination of adult t…
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