How Poison Ivy and nettle rashes affect cells
Posion IvyWhat is poison ivy?:
Poison ivy is a plant that contains oils on its leaves. The oils on the leaves, if transferred to your skin, can cause serious irritation and discomfort. |
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NettlesWhat are nettles?:
Nettles are plants that have small hairs on them and when the hairs rub up against a human it releases chemicals that causes burning and irritation. |
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The oil on plants like Poison oak, Poison ivy and Poison sumac is called urushiol. It is what is causing the reaction. Urushiol is very sticky and can attach onto any thing that brushes against it.
When this oil touches you, your skin will react. Normally within 12 to 48 hours of being touched you will develop a rash. Usually, when it's a persons first time coming in contact with the oil, they will not react but there are exceptions. The skin around the rash will be extremely itchy through out the whole 5 to 12 days that it lasts. The rash will be very tender and there is a chance the your skin will blister. These blisters can be filled with fluids and may burst. |
How is it affecting cells |
When nettles sting you they put 5 chemicals into your body. They are:
Histamine, Acetylcholine, Serotonin, Leukotrienes, Moroidin. Each of these chemicals do different things. Here is what they do. Histamine: Causes swelling by taking water out of the blood and putting it into the tissue (skin). Acetylcholine: Causes you to feel pain and irritates muscles so that they twitch. Serotonin: Reduces blood flow to the stung body part, thus causing prolonged pain. Leukotrienes: Prolongs the affects of all the other chemicals. Moroidin: Causes pain. Moroidin is most commonly found in plants. When you put all of them together you get a swelling, painful event that lasts a long time. |
When the urushiol goes through your skin, it starts to be metabolized and broken down. Then T lymphocytes recognizes it and sends signals called cytokines which tells the white blood cells to go to the affected area and destroy the urushiol. The white blood cells turn into macrophages which eat foreign substances. While eating the foreign substances, they damage the tissue which causes rashes and pain.
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Nettles and their poisons affect cells in an extremely similar way. A difference is that nettles don't last as long as poison ivy. When the white blood cells are fighting they cause different things to happen to your skin resulting in noticeably different rashes.
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Vocabulary you may not know
Metabolized: When The body Processes a Substance.
Cytokines: A group of proteins that act as messengers for the immune system.
Macrophages: Is a type of cell that helps protect the body form foreign substances
T lymphocytes: A type of white blood cell that uses cell meditation immunity - a process involving the phagocytes (type of cell that breaks down bacteria within the body) to break down foreign substances
Cytokines: A group of proteins that act as messengers for the immune system.
Macrophages: Is a type of cell that helps protect the body form foreign substances
T lymphocytes: A type of white blood cell that uses cell meditation immunity - a process involving the phagocytes (type of cell that breaks down bacteria within the body) to break down foreign substances