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The interaction of human neutrophils adherent to plastic petri dishes with the purified chemotactic factors C5a and kallikrein increased their rate of aerobic glycolysis 25-120% and the activity of their hexose monophosphate shunt (HMPS) 100-600%, reaching a plateau after 2 hr at 37 degrees C. The stimulation of either pathway required a chemotactically active stimulus since neither C5 nor prekallikrein or inactivated kallikrein could enhance metabolic activity. Marked suppression of the neutrophil chemotactic response by preincubation with a chemotactic factor to achieve deactivation, 5 x 10(-7) M diisopropyl fluorophosphate, or the neutrophil immobilizing factor (NIF) did not prevent the stimulation of HMPS activity or glycolysis by chemotactic factors. The metabolic inhibitors iodoacetate and 6-aminonicotinamide at concentrations which blocked enhancement of glycolysis or HMPS activity, respectively, partially suppressed the chemotactic response of neutrophils to the chemotactic factors. The capacity of a chemotactic factor to stimulate glucose metabolism of human neutrophils is associated with a maximal chemotactic response, but this stimulation is not alone sufficient for chemotaxis.

Previous investigations have demonstrated that phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), the active principle of croton oil, stimulates alterations in normal polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) that resemble closely the changes that develop in the cells after phagocytosis of bacteria. The present study has compared the effects of PMA and heat-killed bacteria on the oxygen uptake, glucose oxidation, nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction, and ultrastructure of normal neutrophils and PMN from six patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). PMA stimulated oxygen consumption, hexose monophosphate shunt activity, and NBT reduction in normal cells but failed to produce similar effects in CGD neutrophils. However, PMA did induce formation of cytoplasmic vacuoles in the CGD cells similar to those observed in normal neutrophils. The results indicate that PMA is a useful nonparticulate agent for distinguishing between normal and CGD neutrophils and for studying basic mechanisms of phagocytosis in normal and abnormal PMN.

The effects of streptolysin O (SO) (1 to 4 hemolytic units) on the mobility of neutrophilic leukocytes from humans, baboons, sheep, and rabbits were compared. After SO treatment, chemotaxis and random mobility of human neutrophils were markedly suppressed, baboon and sheep neutrophils were partially suppressed, and rabbit neutrophils were unaffected and demonstrated normal chemotaxis and mobility. The amounts of SO used in the mobility studies caused no leukocyte lysis or trypan blue uptake by human, baboon, or sheep cells, and minimal lysis or trypan blue uptake by rabbit cells. The possible involvement of immune mediators in the observed inhibition of human neutrophils was considered and excluded by the following studies. White blood cells from humans with humoral or cellular immune deficiencies responded in a manner similar to normal human cells; supernatant solutions from SO-treated human white blood cells did not contain a chemotactic suppressor; preincubation of SO with cholesterol (an inhibitor of SO hemolytic activity) caused loss of the chemotactic suppressive effect of the toxin on human leukocytes; and leukocytes from rabbits preimmunized with SO remained refractory to chemotactic suppression.

Human granulocyte adhesion to glass capillary tubes was tested in the presence of agents that increase intracellular levels of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Adhesion was significantly reduced by 10(-3)-10(-4) M dibutyryl cAMP, 10(-4)-10(-6) M prostaglandin E(1) (PGE(1)), 10(-4)-10(-6) M histamine, or 10(-3) M theophylline. Adhesion was not suppressed by 10(-4) M theophylline unless it was combined with PGE(1) or histamine. Eosinophil and basophil adhesion was especially sensitive to suppression by the above agents. These findings suggest that intracellular cAMP may play a role in regulation of adhesiveness of human basophils, eosinophils, and neutrophils.

The action of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), the active principle of croton oil, on polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) has been evaluated in this study. Small amounts of PMA caused the rapid development of vacuoles in neutrophils and the disappearance of specific granules. Histochemical and cytochemical studies revealed that alkaline phosphatase activity was transferred to vacuoles and disappeared from the cells, while myeloperoxidase activity remained associated with intact azurophilic lysosomes. Electron-dense tracers indicated that the vacuole membranes originated, at least in part, from the cell wall of the neutrophils. The results indicate that PMA stimulates events remarkably similar to those which take place when bacteria are engulfed by PMNs, except for the failure of azurophilic lysosomes to participate in PMA-induced vacuole formation. PMA appears to be the first chemical agent capable of inducing selective labilization of specific granules in the neutrophil.

The purpose of this investigation was to elucidate the relationship of cyclic GMP and calcium to the immunologic discharge of lysosomal enzymes from purified human neutrophils. Contact of neutrophils with a variety of immunologic stimuli, including zymosan particles treated with either normal or rheumatoid arthritic (RA) serum, heat-aggregated (agg) IgG, particulate and immobilized agg IgG each treated with RA serum, and zymosan-treated serum, provoked the discharge of beta-glucuronidase, but not cytoplasmic lactate dehydrogenase, and stimulated the accumulation of cyclic GMP. Both enzyme release and elevation of cyclic GMP levels required the presence of extracellular calcium as neither cellular event proceeded in its absence. Cholinergic enhancement of the immunologic secretion of beta-glucuronidase from neutrophils by acetylcholine was associated with a concomitant accumulation of cyclic GMP. These actions of acetylcholine on neutrophils did not proceed in the absence of extracellular calcium. Whereas the concentrations of cyclic GMP in neutrophils were elevated by both immune reactants and a combination of the latter and acetylcholine, cyclic AMP levels remained unaltered. Thus, cyclic GMP, but not cyclic AMP, was associated with the immunologic and pharmacologic discharge of lysosomal enzymes from neutrophils. Contrariwise, cyclic AMP, but not cyclic GMP, was associated with inhibition of lysosomal enzyme release. For example, dibutyryl cyclic AMP and epinephrine inhibited the release of beta-glucuronidase from neutrophils that was elicited by each of the immune reactants tested. Moreover, cyclic AMP levels in the cells were elevated markedly in every instance that enzyme discharge was inhibited by epinephrine. Epinephrine did not alter the neutrophil concentrations of cyclic GMP at times when those of cyclic AMP were elevated. The data in this report constitute partial evidence that the immunologic discharge of lysosomal enzymes from human neutrophils is mediated or signaled by intracellular cyclic GMP and that calcium is linked to this stimulation of enzyme secretion.

A scanning and transmission electron microscope study of canine jugular and femoral veins revealed that large numbers of white cells adhered to the vessel walls, passed through the endothelial intercellular junctions and accumulated in pockets between the endothelium and basement membrane. This led to extensive separation and desquamation of endothelial cells with exposure of subendothelial structures in many areas. The white cell invasion was caused by surgical trauma to adjacent tissues (rather than to the vessel itself) followed by 1 or 7 minutes occlusion by pressure applied externally just below the areas of dissection. The invasion was blocked by lidocaine (Xylocaine), an agent known to inhibit white cell migration. However, white cell invasion occurred when veins in lidocaine-treated dogs were perfused with normal blood. No white cell invasion occurred in dogs made neutropenic with vinblastine but did occur when these veins were perfused with normal blood.

The bactericidal and phagocytic capacities of monocytes for E. coli, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, and Listeria, and factors that influence these functions were evaluated and compared with those of the polymorphonuclear leukocytes of 30 normal human subjects. Monocytes killed a significantly smaller proportion of each of the bacterial species than did neutrophils from the same individuals. Whereas the neutrophils of all individuals demonstrated the ability to kill significant numbers of the four bacterial species, there was a marked variation in the effect of monocytes of different individuals on the growth curves of these same bacteria. When the bactericidal capacity of an individual's monocytes to more than one species of bacteria was examined in the same experiment, a significant difference in the effect of monocytes on the growth curve of one bacterial species as opposed to another was noted in 4 of 17 subjects. The bactericidal ability of monocytes of single individuals was consistent on different days in 9 of the 11 subjects whose monocytes were examined more than once against the same bacteria. Studies were performed to determine if the lesser bactericidal capability of monocytes was due to a difference in the ability of monocytes and neutrophils to phagocytize or to a difference in the ability of these cells to kill ingested bacteria or both. The results demonstrated that monocytes phagocytize bacteria significantly less well than neutrophils, but the intracellular killing capacity of both cell types is equal. Addition of phenylbutazone to cell suspensions completely inhibited intracellular killing by both monocytes and neutrophils, suggesting the possibility that the bactericidal mechanisms in both cell types might be similar. Monocyte killing of E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria, but not of Staphylococcus, was significantly diminished in heat-inactivated autologous serum. Neither increasing the concentration of autologous serum from 10% to 25% nor replacement of autologous serum with pooled human serum had any effect on monocyte killing of any of the four bacteria. These studies demonstrate that peripheral blood monocytes are less bactericidal for the four bacterial species than neutrophils, solely because monocytes are less phagocytic. A baseline for further study of factors that influence monocyte function and for study of this cell in selected patient populations is provided.