Pathophysiology of Immunity, Inflammation, Wound Healing, and Infection

The immune system plays a critical role in defending the body against pathogens through innate and adaptive immunity. Innate immunity consists of physical barriers and phagocytic cells and involves acute inflammation as the main effector mechanism; on the other hand, adaptive immunity is characterized by the specificity of effector cells and their products with antigens. National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020) indicates that weakened immune systems, either primary or acquired, make a body vulnerable to infections and have compromised wound healing ability. From the perspective of clinical practice, abnormalities of immune regulation are important to diagnosing immunocompromised patients and deciding on the appropriate use of antibiotics: Pathophysiology of Immunity, Inflammation, Wound Healing, and Infection.

Inflammation is a common mechanism that ensures the body reacts to injury or infection by the presence of redness, swelling, heat, pain, and loss of function due to the triggered pro-inflammatory cytokines and leukocyte recruitment (Hannoodee & Nasuruddin, 2024). Acute inflammation facilitates the removal of pathogens and the sloughing of damaged tissue, while chronic inflammation hinders tissue repair and slows down the rate of wound healing. In clinical practice, the identification of inflammation can help in deciding when anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive treatment may be required to prevent tissue injury.

Wound healing occurs in three overlapping phases: inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling. The inflammatory phase includes platelet activation and leukocyte infiltration, while in the proliferative phase, there is fibroblast proliferation and neovessel formation followed by collagen deposition (Wallace et al., 2023). The last phase of remodeling strengthens the wound by repairing the extracellular matrix.

Factors such as diabetes, infection, and poor circulation impair wound healing, leading to chronic wounds (Wallace et al., 2023). Careful consideration of these factors and the use of adequate clinical decision-making, essential interventions like debridement or infection control, and more sophisticated forms of wound care are utilized.

Infections result when pathogens breach the immune defenses, leading to systemic or localized responses. Bacterial infections induce neutrophil reactions, while viral infections mobilize lymphocytic reactions (Mirzaei et al., 2022). Infections leading to impaired wound healing arise due to biofilms-formed bacteria that are difficult to eliminate with the help of the immune system and antibiotics (Mirzaei et al., 2022). This knowledge of microbial pathophysiology dictates the correct antibiotic regimen to be used and how to avoid antibiotic resistance, which, hence, leads to the best patient outcome.

References

Hannoodee, S., & Nasuruddin, D. N. (2024, June 8). Acute inflammatory response. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556083/

Mirzaei, R., Sabokroo, N., Ahmadyousefi, Y., Motamedi, H., & Karampoor, S. (2022). Immunometabolism in biofilm infection: Lessons from cancer. Molecular Medicine, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s10020-022-00435-2

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2020, April 23). How does the immune system work? National Library of Medicine; Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279364/

Wallace, H. A., Zito, P. M., & Basehore, B. M. (2023, June 12). Wound healing phases. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470443/

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• Address 3-4 key points about immunity, inflammation, wound healing, and infection. Use appropriate physiological terms in your response. cite every paragraph
• Align the key points with concepts of clinical judgment and how pathophysiology knowledge of these concepts as well as antibiotic therapy will assist you in diagnosis and treatment decisions in the future. conclude
  

  Pathophysiology of Immunity, Inflammation, Wound Healing, and Infection

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• Cite in every paragraph.