Muramyl peptides are fragments of peptidoglycan from the cell walls of bacteria. Because of their unique chemistry, the immune system recognizes that muramyl peptides are products of bacteria, and it responds by becoming activated to resist infection. This resistance to infection is nonspecific, and extends to unrelated species of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. A key mechanism of the resistance to infection is activation of macrophages. Macrophage activation results in increased production of microbicidal oxygen radicals like superoxide and peroxide, and in increased secretion of inflammatory cytokines like interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. These cytokines, besides activating neutrophils, B lymphocytes, and T lymphocytes, act on the central nervous system to induce physiological responses like fever and sleep. These physiological responses also aid in combating infection. Muramyl peptides also activate macrophages and other cells of the immune system to kill cancer cells. Muramyl peptides and similar agents will become more important as therapeutic agents in the future, due to increasing resistance of microbes to antibiotics, and increasing numbers of patients with immunodeficiencies.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 September 2002.
All research outputs
#9,389,047
of 27,376,552 outputs
Outputs from Neuroimmunomodulation
#124
of 410 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,326
of 38,724 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Neuroimmunomodulation
#1
of 2 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 27,376,552 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 410 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.5. This one is in the 46th percentile – i.e., 46% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 38,724 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 7th percentile – i.e., 7% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 2 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them
