Concurrent lipopolysaccharide enhances chemotactic response of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes to bacterial chemotaxin.

Polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) function is thought to be critical in resistance to infectious agents and this implies that the PMN must be able to migrate into, and to function in, environments that may have high levels of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Therefore, we have evaluated the effect of LPS on the in vitro migration of PMNs. Our data reveal that the human PMN is resistant to the deleterious effects of high levels of LPS, that in high concentrations LPS is, itself, a direct chemoattractant for PMNs, and that PMN migration toward a bacterial chemotaxin is enhanced if LPS is also present. Such capabilities suggest that the PMN may be uniquely qualified to migrate into microenvironments that are rich in LPS.