Question

As a child, whenever you caught a cold, your Grandma prepared chicken soup, which always made you feel better. Now, as a scientist, you decided to find the evidence that chicken soup really helps in the treatment of the cold. To investigate, you prepared chicken soup the same way your Grandma did and add it to neutrophils from the peripheral blood of healthy volunteers. Using Zymosan-activated serum as a positive chemoattractant, you find that chicken soup is active only in the presence of chemoattractant.

Question
You come to what conclusion about what chicken soup inhibits?

Immunoglobulines
Cell motility
CD4
Necrotaxis
Hemokinesis

Answer 1

Chicken soup was shown to inhibit neutrophil motility in the presence of a chemoattractant, suggesting that it works in conjunction with other immune response mechanisms. While chicken soup is a traditional remedy, zinc gluconate has been shown to be more effective in reducing cold symptoms. There is insufficient evidence supporting the effectiveness of Echinacea.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question suggests that when chicken soup was added to neutrophils in the presence of a positive chemoattractant, it demonstrated activity. The neutrophil activity being referenced here pertains most likely to cell motility, as neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that move towards the source of infection or inflammation in a process called chemotaxis. Neutrophils are components of the innate immune system and are one of the first responders to microbial infection. Given that the soup showed activity only in the presence of a chemoattractant, the chicken soup seems to exert its effects in conjunction with the body's existing immune response mechanisms. Hence, the conclusion can be drawn that chicken soup inhibits neutrophil motility, but only when there is an existing chemoattractant stimulating the neutrophil's movement.

It is important to note that traditional treatments like chicken soup for the common cold are believed to have some benefits; however, scientific studies have focused more on zinc gluconate and Echinacea for their roles in the immune response against common cold symptoms. Zinc has been shown to reduce the duration and severity of the common cold when administered early, whereas there is insufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of Echinacea. Colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) can also play a role in the immune response by stimulating the production of various immune cells.