CHEMOTACTIC FACTOR INFLUENCES ON AGGREGATION, SWELLING, AND FOREIGN SURFACE ADHESIVENESS OF HUMAN LEUKOCYTES

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 90  (3) , 537-550
Abstract
Chemotactic factors have been shown to induce aggregation and cellular swelling of rabbit polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) obtained from the peritoneum. This paper examines the ability of the chemotactic fragment of C5 [complement component 5] and the synthetic chemotactic tripeptide formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine to induce these changes in various preparations of human leukocytes. These factors induced dextran-sedimented leukocytes and Ficoll-Hypaque-isolated PMN to aggregate and swell. Compared with rabbit peritoneal PMN, human PMN responded with more prominent swelling but with less prominent aggregation. Also unlike rabbit peritoneal PMN, human PMN adhered spontaneously to plastic surfaces; the chemotactic factors enhanced this adherence. Certain similarities between the responses of these 2 cell types were evident: in rabbit peritoneal and isolated human peripheral PMN, the aggregates had a short life span in the fluid phase; in both, the number of aggregates formed was proportional to the log10 of the PMN concentration, and, in both, the chemotactic activity of the reagents paralleled their aggregating activity. Lymphocytes were unresponsive to the chemotactic factors. Ficoll-Hypaque-isolated monoclear cells (containing varying proportions of monocytes and lymphocytes) were responsive, indicating that human monocytes behave in a manner similar to the human PMN. Chemotactic factors apparently induce responsive cells to develop a hyperadherent cytoplasmic membrane. Aggregation and increased adhesiveness to plastic surfaces may reflect this induction.