I just want to understand what exactly is the advantage of using one of those cells over the other.
*edit: my bad for the poor title, it’s supposed to be why does neutrophils attack first when T cells and macrophages are considerably stronger?
In: Biology
Time and distribution through the body is the answer, especially in the case of T cells.
Neutrophils are by far the most abundant immune cell. Loads and loads of them are in your blood at any given time. They’re also capable of a powerful immune response in their own right, mostly directed at bacteria. Macrophages are also present in the blood and in barrier tissues like the skin, but in lesser numbers. They have decent bacteria and virus-fighting potential in their own right, but play a more supportive role than the neutrophil. Finally, killer T cells take several days to arise in response to a particular pathogen (and work against viruses & other intracellular pathogens only), so oftentimes the threat is dead and gone well before these guys come crawling out of the lymph nodes.
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