title: Influence of age of the donor sheep on the phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus subspecies anaerobius and S aureus by neutrophils.
abstract: The age of the sheep donating neutrophils had a marked influence in vitro on their phagocytic ability with respect to Staphylococcus aureus and S aureus subspecies anaerobius. Neutrophils from lambs five to eight weeks old phagocytosed these organisms significantly less efficiently (P < 0.001) than neutrophils from adults two to four years old. However, neutrophils from the young animals phagocytosed S aureus significantly (P < 0.001) better than S aureus subspecies anaerobius (61.5 v 53.8 per cent), whereas there was no significant difference in the ability of the neutrophils from adult sheep to phagocytose S aureus and S aureus subspecies anaerobius (68.2 v 68.2 per cent).
authors.affiliation: Departamento Patología Animal I, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Quiteria
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cid
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de la Fuente
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D010587:Phagocytosis; D012756:Sheep; D013045:Species Specificity; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification