Increased neutrophil chemotaxis in obstructive jaundice: an in vitro experiment in rats.
OBJECTIVE
Changes in neutrophil functions in obstructive jaundice have been poorly understood. An in vitro experimental study was performed to evaluate the effect of obstructive jaundice on the functions of macrophages (secretion of neutrophil chemoattractants) and neutrophils (chemotaxis and superoxide anion generation).


METHODS
Obstructive jaundice was produced in rats by 7 day bile duct ligation. Peripheral neutrophils and peritoneal macrophages were harvested from either normal, sham-ligated or bile duct-ligated rats and supernatants of the monolayers of the respective macrophages were prepared after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide. Neutrophil chemotaxis was evaluated with a modified Boyden method.


RESULTS
The supernatant of the bile duct-ligated rat macrophages showed a chemotactic effect on normal rat neutrophils with insignificant difference from the supernatant of the sham-ligated rat macrophages. Chemotaxis of the bile duct-ligated rat neutrophils towards the supernatant of the normal rat macrophages was significantly increased, compared with that of sham-ligated rat neutrophils. Similarly, neutrophils from bile duct-ligated rats showed significantly greater chemotaxis to formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine than the sham-ligated rat neutrophils. Superoxide anion generation in response to formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine or phorbol myristate acetate was significantly increased in the bile duct-ligated rats compared with the sham-ligated rats.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the neutrophil is primed in terms of chemotaxis and superoxide anion generation in obstructive jaundice. How these activated neutrophils play a role in the inflammatory response to obstructive jaundice should be evaluated.
Tsuji
K
K
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Osaka, Japan.
Kubota
Y
Y
Yamamoto
S
S
Yanagitani
K
K
Amoh
Y
Y
Takaoka
M
M
Ogura
M
M
Kin
H
H
Inoue
K
K
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000276:immunology*; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008297:Male; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine / Q000494:pharmacology; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013481:Superoxides / Q000378:metabolism
D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D013481:Superoxides; D009240:N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine