EFFECTS OF NEUTROPHILS ON TISSUES.

The article focuses on the effects of neutrophils on tissues. Neutrophils are the first cells to infiltrate damaged tissue and continue to do so as long as it persists. Much of the damaged tissue is digested extracellularly by enzymes liberated from the neutrophils accumulating in the tissue. If the foreign material is toxic, susceptible tissues are thereby protected at the expense of the phagocyte. Lysosomes contain the enzymes required to digest substances taken up by all living cells but whereas in most cells the substances ingested are normally those required for cell metabolism, phagocytes ingest and digest foreign material.