secrete

"Normally, microglia are looking for things like viruses or injury and secreting substances that block off the damage," she said.

Once an ant detects a food source, it secretes a chemical trail to lead other ants to the source.

These are tiny bubbles of lipids that are secreted by cells of the body and that can ultimately enter the bloodstream.

Until now, these inflammasome proteins were only known to spontaneously assemble within immune cells to secrete soluble chemicals to alert other parts of the immune system upon detection of an infection.

The study, recently published in Nature Communications, revealed that ferns and flowering plants independently evolved nectaries, specialized structures that secrete sugary rewards to attract ant bodyguards, around the same time in the Cretaceous period.