= Neutrophil extracellular trap
A \b[neutrophil extracellular trap] is an extracellular web containing <chromatin> and antimicrobial <proteins> released by activated <neutrophils>. The DNA-containing fibers can bind microbes and concentrate associated defensive components outside the cell. This differs from <phagocytosis>, in which a cell engulfs a target into an intracellular compartment.<Neutrophil extracellular traps kill bacteria by Volker Brinkmann and others>[Abstract: chromatin and granule proteins form extracellular bacteria-binding fibers.]{ref}
The original 2004 report described fibers that bound both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, degraded virulence factors and killed bacteria in the tested system. The structural observation and the functional measurement answer different questions: an image can show a bacterium associated with a web, while a viability assay tests whether the bacterium survives.<Neutrophil extracellular traps kill bacteria by Volker Brinkmann and others>[Abstract: binding, virulence-factor degradation and bacterial killing.]{ref}
A useful experimental comparison would measure trapping and survival separately, then test whether disrupting the DNA scaffold changes either endpoint. Such an intervention needs controls for effects on bacteria and <neutrophils> themselves. This is an illustrative design principle, not an additional protocol or numerical result attributed to the 2004 abstract.
The name describes a released structure; it does not by itself identify the complete pathway of release, establish that every <neutrophil> forms one, or prove that every trapped microorganism is killed. Distinguishing the web, its cellular production and its consequences keeps a morphological observation from becoming an unsupported universal mechanism.
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