| humoral immunity | <immunology> A form of immunity whereby B lymphocytes and plasma cells produce antibodies to foreign agents (antigens) and stimulate T lymphocytes to attack them (cellular immunity). These antibodies also stimulate the release of chemical mediators (for example interferon, complement) which enhance antigen destruction. (06 Mar 1998) |
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| humoral | <physiology> Of, relating to, proceeding from or involving a bodily humour now often used of endocrine factors as opposed to neural or somatic. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| humoral antibodies | <immunology> Antibodies which are secreted by B lymphocytes circulating in the blood, in response to antigens found in body fluids. (06 Mar 1998) |
| humoral doctrine | The ancient Greek theory of the four body humors (blood, yellow and black bile, and phlegm) that determined health and disease. The humors were associated with the four elements (air, fire, earth, and water), which in turn corresponded to a pair of the qualities (hot, cold, dry, and moist). A proper and evenly balanced mixture of the humors was characteristic of health of body and mind; an imperfect balance resulted in disease. Temperament of body or mind also was supposed to be determined, e.g., sanguine (blood), choleric (yellow bile), melancholic (black bile), or phlegmatic (phlegm). Synonym: fluidism, humoralism, humorism. (05 Mar 2000) |
| humoral immune response | <immunology> Those immune responses mediated by antibody. (06 Mar 1998) |
| humoral pathology | The thesis that disorders in the fluids of the body, especially the blood, are the basic factors in disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| humoral theory | The ancient Greek theory of the four body humors (blood, yellow and black bile, and phlegm) that determined health and disease. The humors were associated with the four elements (air, fire, earth, and water), which in turn corresponded to a pair of the qualities (hot, cold, dry, and moist). A proper and evenly balanced mixture of the humors was characteristic of health of body and mind; an imperfect balance resulted in disease. Temperament of body or mind also was supposed to be determined, e.g., sanguine (blood), choleric (yellow bile), melancholic (black bile), or phlegmatic (phlegm). Synonym: fluidism, humoralism, humorism. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acquired immunity | <immunology> A form of cellular defense which identifies certain foreign substances (antigens) as harmful to the body. For this reason, the body can acquire resistance to a particular foreign agent. These foreign agents are then attacked by sensitised T lymphocytes (cellular immunity). White blood cells, plasma cells, B lymphocytes and other specialised immune system cells act in concert with T lymphocytes to produce antibodies (humoral immunity) that attach to the antigen directing T-cells to attack. Antibodies also stimulate the release of special chemical mediators in the blood (for example complement, interferon) that further enhance antigen destruction. (13 Nov 1997) |
| active immunity | <immunology> An organisms resistance to disease or infection, developed because the organisms immune system has produced antibodies after an infection or innoculation. (06 May 1997) |
| adoptive immunity | <immunology> Immunity to disease or infection conferred on a previously non-immune individual by transferring lymphocytes from a previously immune individual to the non-immune individual. (15 Jan 1998) |
| allograft immunity | <immunology> The recipient's immune system rejects tissue grafted from a genetically dissimilar donor (of the same species) and stages an immune attack against it. (09 Oct 1997) |
| antiviral immunity | Immunity resulting from virus infection, either naturally acquired or produced by intentional vaccination; compared to some bacterial immunity's, it is of relatively long duration, but this may be the result of infection-immunity rather than being peculiar to virus infection per se, since it occurs also in bacterial immunity after infections such as typhoid fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial active immunity | See: acquired immunity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| artificial passive immunity | See: acquired immunity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bacteriophage immunity | The state induced in a bacterium by lysogenization, the lysogenic bacterium being insusceptible to further lysogenization or to a lytic cycle by a superinfecting bacteriophage, in contradistinction to bacteriophage resistance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| general immunity | Immunity associated with widely diffused mechanisms that tend to protect the body as a whole, as compared with local immunity. (05 Mar 2000) |