Degranulation is a cellular process that releases antimicrobial

Antimicrobial

An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...

 cytotoxic molecules from secretory

Secretion

Secretion is the process of elaborating, releasing, and oozing chemicals, or a secreted chemical substance from a cell or gland. In contrast to excretion, the substance may have a certain function, rather than being a waste product...

 vesicle

Vesicle (biology)

A vesicle is a bubble of liquid within another liquid, a supramolecular assembly made up of many different molecules. More technically, a vesicle is a small membrane-enclosed sack that can store or transport substances. Vesicles can form naturally because of the properties of lipid membranes , or...

s called granules

Granule (cell biology)

In cell biology, a granule is a small particle. It can be any structure barely visible by light microscopy. The term is most often used to describe a secretory vesicle.-Leukocytes:...

 found inside some cells. It is used by several different cells involved in the immune system

Immune system

An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...

, including granulocytes (neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils) and mast cell

Mast cell

A mast cell is a resident cell of several types of tissues and contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin...

s, and certain lymphocyte

Lymphocyte

A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells...

s such as natural killer (NK) cells

Natural killer cell

Natural killer cells are a type of cytotoxic lymphocyte that constitute a major component of the innate immune system. NK cells play a major role in the rejection of tumors and cells infected by viruses...

 and cytotoxic T cell

Cytotoxic T cell

A cytotoxic T cell belongs to a sub-group of T lymphocytes that are capable of inducing the death of infected somatic or tumor cells; they kill cells that are infected with viruses , or are otherwise damaged or...

s, whose main purpose is to destroy invading microorganisms.

Mast cells

Antigens interact with IgE

IGE

IGE was one of the largest services company buying and selling virtual currencies and accounts for MMORPG. During its peak time, it had offices in Los Angeles, China , and headquarters & customer service centre in Hong Kong. IGE was one of the main monopoly in virtual economy services, also known...

 molecules already bound to high affinity Fc receptor

Fc receptor

An Fc receptor is a protein found on the surface of certain cells - including natural killer cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and mast cells - that contribute to the protective functions of the immune system....

s on the surface of mast cell

Mast cell

A mast cell is a resident cell of several types of tissues and contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin...

s to induce degranulation. The mast cell releases a mixture of compounds, including histamine

Histamine

Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in local immune responses as well as regulating physiological function in the gut and acting as a neurotransmitter. Histamine triggers the inflammatory response. As part of an immune response to foreign pathogens, histamine is produced by...

, proteoglycan

Proteoglycan

Proteoglycans are proteins that are heavily glycosylated. The basic proteoglycan unit consists of a "core protein" with one or more covalently attached glycosaminoglycan chain. The point of attachment is a Ser residue to which the glycosaminoglycan is joined through a tetrasaccharide bridge...

s and serine protease

Serine protease

Serine proteases are enzymes that cleave peptide bonds in proteins, in which serine serves as the nucleophilic amino acid at the active site.They are found ubiquitously in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes...

s, from its cytoplasmic granules.

Eosinophils

In a similar mechanism, activated eosinophils release preformed mediators such as major basic protein

Major Basic Protein

Proteoglycan 2, bone marrow , also known as PRG2, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the PRG2 gene.- Function :...

, and enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

s such as peroxidase

Peroxidase

Peroxidases are a large family of enzymes that typically catalyze a reaction of the form:For many of these enzymes the optimal substrate is hydrogen peroxide, but others are more active with organic hydroperoxides such as lipid peroxides...

, following interaction between their Fc receptors and IgE molecules that are bound to large parasites like helminths.

Neutrophils

Four kinds of granules exist in neutrophils that display differences in content and regulation. Secretory vesicles are the most likely to release their contents by degranulation, followed by gelatinase

Gelatinase

In biology and chemistry, gelatinase is a proteolytic enzyme that allows a living organism to hydrolyse gelatin into its sub-compounds that can cross the cell membrane and be used by the organism...

 granules, specific granules, and azurophil

Azurophil

An azurophil is an object readily stained with an azure dye. Azurophils include certain cytoplasmic granules in white blood cells and hyperchromatin, imparting a burgundy or merlot coloration. Neutrophils in particular are known for containing azurophils loaded with a wide variety of...

 granules.

Cytotoxic T cells and NK cells

Cytotoxic T cells and NK cells release molecules like perforin

Perforin

Perforin-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PRF1 gene.- Function :Perforin is a cytolytic protein found in the granules of CD8 T-cells and NK cells. Upon degranulation, perforin inserts itself into the target cell's plasma membrane, forming a pore. The lytic membrane-inserting part...

 and granzyme

Granzyme

Granzymes are serine proteases that are released by cytoplasmic granules within cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells. Their purpose is to induce apoptosis within virus-infected cells, thus destroying them....

s by
a process of directed exocytosis

Exocytosis

Exocytosis , also known as 'The peni-cytosis', is the durable process by which a cell directs the contents of secretory vesicles out of the cell membrane...

to kill infected target cells.