INTRACELLULAR PRODUCTION OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES IN HUMAN NEUTROPHILS FOLLOWING ACTIVATION BY THE SOLUBLE STIMULI FMLP, DIOCTANOYLGLYCEROL AND IONOMYCIN

The stimuli, sn-1, 2-dioctanoylglycerol; (DG8) the calcium specific ionophore, ionomycin, and the chemotactic peptide formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) can interact with normal human neutrophils and activate their superoxide/hydrogen peroxide generating NADPH-oxidase. In response to the peptide as well as DG8, the neutrophils produced both superoxide (O2-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Since interaction between the cells and ionomycin was not associated with any notable superoxide production and hydrogen peroxide was induced only in the presence of azide, a potent inhibitor of the hydrogen peroxide-consuming enzymes catalase and myeloperoxidase, we conclude that this stimulus can generate oxygen metabolites intracellularly. Since the DG8-induced production of hydrogen peroxide was increased in the presence of azide, whereas the FMLP-induced response was largely unaffected, we concluded that the three stimuli differ in their capacity to generate oxygen metabolites intracellularly. The use of sn-1,2-didecanoylglycerol (DG10) as stimulating agent did not result in any detectable activation of the NADPH-oxidase. However, preincubation caused an increased (primed) response during stimulation with the chemotactic peptide FMLP. The response of primed neutrophils to FMLP proceeds with a time-course different from that seen in normal cells. From the results presented on FMLP-induced activity in the presence of azide, we conclude that FMLP causes normal cells to produce oxygen radicals which are released from the cells. However, the primed cells are also capable of generating oxygen metabolites that are retained inside the cells. In fact, measurement of the intracellularly generated metabolites discloses this to be the predominant part of the response.