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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2005 Sep 13.
Published in final edited form as: Immunol Rev. 2005 Jun;205:60–71. doi: 10.1111/j.0105-2896.2005.00260.x

Figure 2. Macrophages can functionally adapt to their tissue environment.

Figure 2

It is not clear to what degree the functional heterogeneity of macrophages results from differentiation into sublineages or results from differential regulation by microenvironmental signals in the tissue. It is hypothesized that in many cases, including inflammation and development of at least some tissue histiocyte characteristics, macrophages can progress through a series of functional patterns, adapting to progressive changes that occur in damaged or infected tissue.