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Phagocytes: Neutrophils and Macrophages

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Phagocytic leukocytes, chiefly neutrophils and macrophages, engulf and digest pathogens directly once a barrier is breached, forming the innate response's first internal line of defense.

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Macrophages also release signaling molecules that recruit additional immune cells to an infection site.

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Phagocytes act nonspecifically against pathogens generally, unlike the antigen-specific cells covered later in this chapter's adaptive-immunity section.