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Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines

Physical barriers and chemical defences

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

The skin as a physical barrier, mucus and cilia in the airways and why smokers get more chest infections, lysozymes in tears and saliva, hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and how a cut in the skin raises the risk of infection.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Describe the physical barriers that keep pathogens out of the body and why smoking weakens one of those barriers.

Key term

Describe how the skin protects the body from pathogens.

Key term

Explain how mucus in the airways protects the lungs.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe how the skin protects the body from pathogens.

    Model answer

    The skin is a physical barrier of tough dead cells that pathogens cannot pass through unless it is broken.

  2. 2

    Explain how mucus in the airways protects the lungs.

    Model answer

    Sticky mucus traps pathogens and dust particles before they can reach the lungs.

  3. 3

    Describe the role of cilia in the airways.

    Model answer

    Cilia beat to sweep mucus and the pathogens trapped in it up to the throat, where it is swallowed.

  4. 4

    Explain why a smoker is more likely to get a chest infection.

    Model answer

    Smoke damages the cilia, so mucus carrying trapped pathogens is no longer swept out of the airways.

  5. 5

    Where are lysozymes found, and what do they do?

    Model answer

    Lysozymes are enzymes in tears and saliva that break down the cell walls of bacteria and kill them.

  6. 6

    Explain how hydrochloric acid in the stomach defends the body against pathogens.

    Model answer

    Its very low pH denatures the enzymes of pathogens swallowed in food and mucus, killing them.

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