Technical Articles

The mononuclear phagocyte system comprises monocytes in the blood and fixed or mobile macrophages in tissues, which possess phagocytic functions. Dendritic cells (DCs) are named for their numerous dendritic or pseudopod-like protrusions upon maturation. Natural Killer (NK) cells primarily originate from the bone marrow, where they gradually mature within the bone marrow microenvironment before distributing into the peripheral blood.