Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Assessment of Immune Function Related

Review Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Assessment of Immune Function related questions and content

A patient is responding to a microbial invasion and the patients differentiated lymphocytes have begun to function in either a humoral or a cellular capacity. During what stage of the immune response does this occur?

  • A. The recognition stage
  • B. The effector stage
  • C. The response stage
  • D. The proliferation stage
Correct Answer: C

Rationale: In the response stage, the differentiated lymphocytes function in either a humoral or a cellular capacity. In the effector stage, either the antibody of the humoral response or the cytotoxic (killer) T cell of the cellular response reaches and connects with the antigen on the surface of the foreign invader. In the recognition stage, the recognition of antigens as foreign, or non-self, by the immune system is the initiating event in any immune response. During the proliferation stage the circulating lymphocytes containing the antigenic message return to the nearest lymph node.