Comparison of Innate and Adaptive Immunity

	Innate Immunity	Adaptive Immunity
Specificity	Non-specific	Highly specific
Action	For structures shared by a group of microbes	For special antigens of microbial and non-microbial agents
Used against	For microbes	Microbes and non-microbial substances called antigens
Memory	No memory	Long term memory
Improvement	Does not improve after exposure to organism	Improves after each repeated exposure
Effective immediately after exposure	Yes –acts within minutes	No –requires several days before becoming effective
Diversity	Limited	High
Self reactivity	No	No
Potency	Less	More
Line of defense	1^st line as intrinsically present	Develops after exposure
Speed	Faster response	Slower response
Sufficient in long run	Not sufficient as children with severe combined immunodeficiency disease suffer from life threatening infections	Yes
Complement system activation	Via alternative and lectin pathways	Activated by classical pathway
Components 1. Cells	Phagocytes Monocytes Macrophages Neutrophils Natural killer cells	Lymphocytes (T, B and plasma cells) Antigen presenting cells (macrophages, B and dendritic cells)
2. Blood proteins	Complement	Antibodies
Anatomic and physiological barriers	Skin Mucous membranes Temp pH chemicals	lymph nodes spleen mucosal associated lymphoid tissue

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