Melanophages are macrophages that patrol your skin acting as an important line of defence from pathogens and particles that can enter the body through cuts and scrapes. Their name comes from their appetite for melanosomes, small droplets of melanin, the skin pigment produced by melanocytes. When skin is tattooed, the ink pigments are a rainbow-coloured […]
You breathe over 10,000 litres of air a day (that’s 2200 gallons for my American friends or any time travellers from 1900) even when you don’t run for the bus or climb 10 flights of stairs. With each lungful you also inhale countless microscopic particles of dust, viruses, pollen, chemicals, spores. Some of these are […]
Since starting Drawing Blood I’ve been very aware of neglecting the white half of our circulating cells. Unlike red blood cells, it’s not as simple as different shapes and expressions, white blood cells (leucocytes) are incredibly complex with new features still being discovered. Macrophages are a good example. They are commonly defined as ‘large cells […]