title: Pertussis toxin effects on chemoattractant-induced response heterogeneity in human PMNs utilizing Fluo-3 and flow cytometry.
abstract: Flow cytometric methods were utilized to determine N-formylpeptide-induced cytosolic calcium levels in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) detected with the calcium indicator Fluo-3. Fluo-3 was readily loaded into PMNs as the acetoxymethyl ester. At room temperature Fluo-3 extrusion was minimal (less than 10%) over a 2 h time period. Flow cytometric histograms yielded symmetric distributions indicating homogeneous labelling of the cells. Stimulation of the cells with N-formyl-met-leu-phe (FMLP) caused homogeneous activation of all cells as indicated by a shift of the fluorescence distribution to higher fluorescence levels while still maintaining a symmetrical distribution. Resting values or FMLP-induced cytosolic calcium levels were similar in cells loaded over a 20-fold range of Fluo-3-acetoxymethyl ester. The effect of graded pertussis toxin (PT) treatment on the calcium response was determined by incubating cells with different concentrations of pertussis toxin for a time period that yielded a range of ADP ribosolation levels inside the cells. When these cells were activated with FMLP, the fluorescence histograms showed that pertussis toxin treatment resulted in a conversion of cells from responders to nonresponders. The responding cells responded with maximum calcium elevations similar to controls. This behavior may reflect heterogeneous insertion of the A-protomer of PT or a very sharp threshold of coupled G-proteins required to transduce the responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Omann
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Harter
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis*; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015759:Ionomycin; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D037342:Pertussis Toxin; D010566:Virulence Factors, Bordetella / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014966:Xanthenes
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D010566:Virulence Factors, Bordetella; D014966:Xanthenes; C059715:Fluo-3; D015759:Ionomycin; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine; D037342:Pertussis Toxin; D002118:Calcium