Research reveals new tonsil-like organ in fish that may protect them from pathogens
When microbes try to invade our body through the nose or mouth, they have to get past the tonsils, lumps of tissue garrisoned by immune cells that help fight off the intruders. But many animals don’t have obvious tonsils, an apparent gap in their defenses. Intoday, however, researchers report uncovering a comparable organ in fish that may take on a similar immune role.
Although the ancestors of bony fish and humans went their separate evolutionary ways more than 400 million years ago, the fish immune system shares many features with our own. Fish deploy many of the same pathogen fighters, including T cells, B cells, and macrophages. Like our B cells, the fish versions churn out antibodies, which lock up and disable viruses. Fish also sport some of the same immune organs, including the thymus and spleen.
In 2015, Ph.D. student Julien Rességuier noticed an unusual structure at the base of the gills in some fish specimens. Digging into the scientific literature, he found that anatomists had also glimpsed it but had never investigated further. At the time, Rességuier was busy finishing other research, however, and didn’t follow up on the observation.
Rességuier and colleagues dubbed their find the Nemausean lymphoid organ , after a mythological figure of healing and water. The researchers observed that in zebrafish battling parasites or viruses, clusters of immune cells sprang up in the NELO. Immune cells in our tonsils, lymph nodes, and spleen show fragments of pathogen molecules known as antigens to one another, sparking a counterattack against invaders.
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