Functions of the spleen

The spleen is one of the important organs in the human body, and it can be said that all organs in the human body are indispensable. Each organ has its own job. Only when they all work normally in the body can people have a healthy body. If any organ has a problem, people should pay attention. Everyone knows that the spleen is an immune organ in the human body. Many times, some diseases are also related to it.

Everyone knows the importance of the spleen, but we know too little about its functions. Only when people truly understand it can they know the importance of the spleen, so today I will share with you what the functions of the spleen are.

There are many structures called "sinusoids" in the spleen tissue. Normally, part of the blood is retained in the sinusoids. When the human body loses blood, the sinusoids contract and release this part of the blood to the periphery to replenish blood volume. A large number of macrophages are attached to the walls of the sinusoids, which can phagocytize aging red blood cells, pathogens and foreign matter.

spleen

The spleen is the largest immune organ in the body, accounting for 25% of the total lymphoid tissue in the body. It contains a large number of lymphocytes and macrophages. It is the center of cellular immunity and humoral immunity in the body and exerts anti-tumor effects through multiple mechanisms. Splenectomy leads to disorders in cellular immunity and humoral immunity, affecting the occurrence and development of tumors.

Splenomegaly is of reference value for the diagnosis of many diseases such as leukemia, schistosomiasis and kala-azar.

Tuftsin Tuftsin is a tetrapeptide substance first discovered by Professor Najjara of Tufts University in the United States in 1970. Currently, it is known that the spleen is the only source of Tuftsin in the body. Tuftsin, as a humoral factor involved in immune regulation, has significant anti-tumor effects. It activates multinuclear leukocytes, monocytes, and macrophages, improves their phagocytic, free, and cytotoxic functions, and enhances the body's cellular immune function. In addition, the spleen also produces a variety of other immune factors to promote phagocytosis and clear antigens inside and outside the body. This is the cause of post-splenectomy severe infection syndrome (OPSI) and is also the theoretical basis for spleen-preserving surgery.

B lymphocytes account for about 55% of the total number of lymphocytes in the spleen. Under the stimulation of tumor antigens, they are transformed into plasma cells, which then secrete specific anti-tumor immunoglobulin IgG and have antigen presenting ability. Studies have found that after splenectomy, the body's immunoglobulin content is abnormal and the serum IgM level decreases significantly, thus affecting the occurrence and development of tumors.

The spleen has 25% of the systemic circulating T lymphocytes, directly participates in cellular immunity, and has an important regulatory effect on the distribution of T cell subsets in peripheral blood. The regulation of T lymphocyte immunity by the spleen is an important part of tumor immunity. After splenectomy, peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets change, the number of helper T lymphocytes (Th) decreases, and the number of suppressive T lymphocytes (Ts) increases relatively, leading to tumor immunosuppression.

A large number of macrophages in the spleen have a strong ability to phagocytize antigen particles and can also act as antigen presenting cells (APCs) to regulate and enhance immune responses. In addition to being able to release active substances such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), IFN, IL-1 and other active substances that directly participate in anti-tumor effects, they can also regulate the anti-tumor effects of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK) cells, and have a wide range of immune induction and effector functions.

Dendritic cells (DC), natural killer (NK) cells and LAK DC have stronger antigen presenting ability than macrophages and participate in cellular immunity and humoral immunity as APCs. LAK cells have a strong killing effect on autologous or allogeneic tumor cells, and can non-specifically kill a variety of tumor cells that are insensitive to NK cells and CTLs, and also play an important role in anti-tumor.

The spleen has many functions and is very important to the body, so you must take good care of your spleen in your daily life so that you can have a good body. Especially in terms of diet, you must be careful not to eat foods that harm the spleen.