title: Influence of suspension on the oxidative burst by rat neutrophils.
abstract: The influence of spaceflight on the oxidative burst of neutrophils is not known. The present study was designed to evaluate the influence of antiorthostatic suspension, a ground-based modeling system designed to simulate certain aspects of weightlessness that occur after spaceflight, on the capacity of rat neutrophils to express the oxidative burst, an important host defense mechanism against microbial pathogens. Rats were suspended in whole body harnesses in the antiorthostatic orientation for a 3- or 7-day period. Control rats were suspended orthostatically or allowed to remain in vivarium cages without the attachment of any suspension materials. After suspension, peripheral blood was harvested and neutrophils were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. The enriched neutrophil preparations were stimulated with N-formyl-methionyl-leucine-phenylalanine and phorbol myristic acid to induce the oxidative burst. It was found that neutrophils isolated from suspended animals released the same levels of superoxide anion as did vivarium control animals that were not suspended, indicating that whole body suspension did not alter this aspect of rat neutrophil function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Louisville, School of Medicine, Kentucky 40292.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Koebel
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: McLeish
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldwater
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sonnenfeld
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016897:Respiratory Burst / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013026:Space Flight; D013481:Superoxides / Q000097:blood; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology; D014893:Weightlessness / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D013481:Superoxides; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate