ON RADICAL PRODUCTION BY PMA-STIMULATED NEUTROPHILS AS MONITORED BY LUMINOL-AMPLIFIED CHEMILUMINESCENCE

The means by which neutrophils within the body ward off infectious and neoplastic processes by the activation of molecular oxygen, as well as how such mechanisms dysfunction, is the subject of extensive ongoing research. Most previous studies of neutrophil activation indicate that there is a transient production of reactive oxygen species. Luminol-amplified chemiluminescence surveillance of O2.- and H2O2 supported these general findings. Yet, recent studies showed that production of reactive oxygen species by PMA-stimulated neutrophils is not transient but persistent; however, luminol-dependent methods do not corroborate such findings. The kinetics of O2.- production by human neutrophils were studied using luminol-amplified chemiluminescence (CL), spin trapping combined with electron spin resonance detection, and ferricytochrome c reduction. The effects of pH and O2 level on luminol-amplified CL were determined using hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase to produce O2.- and H2O2 in cell-free systems. As we have found by electron spin resonance and ferricytochrome c reduction, stimulated neutrophils continued to generate O2.- for several hours, yet when luminol-amplified CL was used to continuously follow radical production, CL was shortly lost. Similar loss of CL was observed with continuous enzymatic formation of O2.- and H2O2. The failure of the CL assay to report O2.- and H2O2 formation results from some luminol reaction product which interferes with the light reaction. Our results show that the cells are operative for long periods indicating that cell exposure to prolonged O2.- fluxes does not terminate radical production, and even when pH, [O2], and reagents are optimized, the use of luminol-amplified CL is not a valid assay for continuous monitoring of O2.- and H2O2 generated by either stimulated neutrophils or in cell-free systems.