When a healthy adult acquires a bacterial infection, the immune system is effective against the microorganism by mounting an immune response. Phagocytosis is an important function of neutrophils and macrophages. However both of them have distinguished characteristics. The false statement regarding the above immune response is
High-Yield Explanation
Answer: c) Lysosomes of both neutrophils and macrophages contains large amount of lipases.* Lysosomes of macrophages, but not of neutrophils, contain large amounts of lipases, which can digest thick lipid membranes of some bacteria such as bacillus tuberculosis.* Macrophages have ability to engulf particles much larger than bacteria, such as whole red blood cells, malarial parasites, etc, while neutrophils are not capable of phagocytizing particles much larger than bacteria.* Both neutrophils and macrophages contain lysosomes filled with proteolytic enzymes, which are able to digest bacteria and other foreign proteins.* A single neutrophil can phagocytize 3 to 20 bacteria, while macrophages, when stimulated by immune system, are much more powerful phagocytes. A single macrophage can phagocytize as many as 100 bacteria.* After phagocytosis, a neutrophil usually becomes inactivated and dies, while macrophages, after digesting phagocytozed particles, can extrude the residual products and often survive and function for many more months.