Flow Cytofluorometric Detection of Inflammatory Processes by Measuring Respiratory Burst Reaction of Peripheral Blood Neutrophils

This report describes a method for measuring the respiratory burst in neutrophils, based on intracellular oxidation of the reduced ethidium bromide derivative, hydroethidine. Fluorescence of the resultant product quantitatively determined by how cytofluorometry serves as a measure of the neutrophil ability to generate superoxide radicals. We found that during inflammation some polymorphonuclear leukocytes showed a considerably lower respiratory burst response to phorbol myristate acetate treatment. It was demonstrated that variations in this parameter could be an indicator of the course of inflammation.