Infographic: Salt and the immune system
Client: Technical University of Munich
Journal: Science Translational Medicine, Vol 11, Issue 480, 20 February 2019
Salty T cells
Prof. Dr. med. Christina Zielinski, scientist at the Techninal University of Munich, asked me to design an infographic for her publication in the journal Science Translational Medicine about the relation between the concentration of salt in skin and allergic diseases. The graphic shows the difference between healthy and inflamed skin.
The issue is very complicated. Summarized, sodium chloride (see white crystals)can change the relation between the different T cells, what might cause allergic diseases: While TH2 cells send out more cytokines (see small pink globes), other T cells send out less of them (see small turquoise globes). This leads to bacteria growing in a salty environment (see purple globes on skin), for example staphylokokkus aureus – and the skin gets inflamed.
» Read abstract
Source:
Science Translational Medicine 20 Feb 2019:
Vol. 11, Issue 480, eaau0683
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aau0683
Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science.
No claim to original U.S. Government Works