Phagocytosis

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Phagocytosis is the swallowing, ingestion or engulfing of a particle by a phagocyte, a type of cell. The solid particles that are “eaten” include bacteria, pathogens and dead cells or parts of dead cells.

In the picture below, the particle (1)  attracts the attention of the phagocyte & a receptor “sticks” the particle to the surface of the phagocyte. The particle is then engulfed & drawn into a vacuole (2) & is subsequently digested by enzymes (3)  in the phagocyte.  You can see the enzymes working on the particle (b).  The waste products are expelled from the phagocyte as you can see in  (4) & (c) . Micro-organisms such as bacteria would be killed during this process.

 

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