The macrophage: hunter and gatherer.
Macrophages are known to perform a wide variety of different tasks in both the developing and the mature mammalian organism. It has been suggested that one developmental task of the macrophage is the removal of superfluous cells during the processes of cell growth, migration and death which comprise tissue formation. This review discusses the question of whether during tissue remodelling the macrophage has an active role and can elicit the death of a target cell or is a passive partner and merely cleans up after the target cell has undergone an autonomous cell death.
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G.W Hooper Foundation, University of California San Francisco 94143-0552.
D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D006801:Humans; D008262:Macrophage Activation / Q000502:physiology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological