• Question: Do our cells change?

    Asked by Monica Sara to Carolyn on 13 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 13 Nov 2015:

      Yes, cells change when they respond to stimulation and they also have a finite life span- individual cells don’t live forever!

      The type of cell changes I am most interested in are the ones that take place in cells of your immune system after they come into contact with bacteria or viruses. The cells get activated and this causes massive changes as they start to respond in different ways. The cells I look at, natural killer cells (great name), release granules full of chemicals that can kill the bacteria. To do this, they have to move the granules to the cell surface to release them so there are all sorts of changes that go inside the cell to allow that.

Comments