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The Dendritic Cell acts as a sentry, going all over the body looking for pathogens indicative of
infection or disease. When it finds something, it takes a sample and carries this information
back to the lymph node, where it searches for the correct T cell to recognize and fight the
disease.
Dendritic Cell Turning
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T cells are programmed to respond to specific diseases. Of the millions of T cells in the body,
only a few will recognize and activate to fight any infection. For the animator, finding the
right T cell surface to animate is quite difficult. Here are two versions.
T Cell Turning - Version 1
T Cell Turning - Version 2
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Dendritic cells carry small pieces of antigen on their surfaces. In the lymph node the Dendritic
cell searches binds with many T cells that "read" the antigen pieces and, if they are programmed
to respond to them, begin to divide.
Dendritic Cell Interaction
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At the surface of the cells, this binding is complex. Various molecules on the surfaces of both
cells must bind and send information into the cells.
Surface Interaction
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T cells proliferating via Clonal expansion, in which they expand geometrically and produce clones
of themselves.
T Cell Clonal Expansion
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When a T cell is activated, it begins to divide and proliferate geometrically, in a process called
Clonal expansion. One cell becomes two, two cells become four, four cells become eight, and so on.
After twenty such divisions, over 1 million cells can be produced.2 versions:
Clonal Expansion - Version 1
Clonal Expansion - Version 2
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