The Respiratory Burst of Phagocytic Cells: Facts and Problems

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Abstract
The phagocytic cells have impressive capacities to respond to a variety of external stimuli with activation of random and oriented movement, with secretion of mediators and enzymes stored in cytoplasmic organelles, with production of new compounds and mediators, with changes of the quality and of the intensity of oxidative metabolism. The most impressive response is the production, in a very short time, of an enormous amount of weapons and projectiles that are used against viruses, bacteria, protozoa, tumor cells etc. These weapons are O 2 − , H2O2, OH.and singlet oxygen and are intermediate products of a particular type of respiration, called “respiratory burst”, which is induced by a perturbation of the plasma membrane of the phagocytes following the interaction with particulate matter and with a number of soluble factors1–7.