ABSTRACT
The Oxford English Dictionary describes inammation in general as the action of inaming or setting on œre or catching œre or the condition of being in ames, conagration. However, the dictionary deœnes the pathological state of inammation as a morbid process affecting some organ or part of the body, characterized by excessive heat, swelling, pain, and redness. Inammation in a tissue of a living body arises in response to local injury, leading to the buildup of uid and blood cells. Inammation is a necessary and highly useful/essential process that animals have evolved to defend against pathogenic microbes. Stress causes tissue injury, which in turn leads to inammation through a variety of signal mediators. In general, any injury to the vascularized tissue leads to a local inammatory response. Inammation is broadly divided into two major types: (1) acute inammation (immediate and nonspeciœc response), and (2) chronic inammation (delayed and highly speciœc response; Figure 5.1) [1]. Immediately following the tissue injury caused by stimuli (physical, chemical, and biological), vasodilation, vascular leak, edema, and recruitment of leukocytes (polymorphonuclear leukocytes; PMNs) result in the injured tissue area. Vascular leak is responsible for protein exudation and edema.
