Characteristics of cells present in peritoneal fluids of mice injected intraperitoneally with Bordetella pertussis.

Peritoneal fluids obtained from mice after the intraperitoneal administration of Bordetella pertussis vaccine, heated vaccine, an extract of the organisms, killed Escherichia coli, or thioglycolate medium were examined in terms of total cells and percentage that adhered to glass cover slips during 2-h incubation period. All these substances were found to increase the number of leukocytes in peritoneal fluid within 1 to 2 days after the injection. This increase appeared to be due to an influx of macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes with relative proportions at a given time dependent upon the material involved in the induction of the response. The initial increases after pertussis vaccine seemed to be due mainly to an influx of monomuclear cells, whereas with E. coli neutrophils constituted the major portion of the cell population. The percentage of peritoneal cells that attached to glass was also found to be markedly reduced in preparations obtained from mice after the injection of B. pertussis or E. coli. There appeared to be differences in persistence of this phenomenon, with preparations containing the histamine-sensitizing factor being the most active in affecting adherence properties. Thus these data would suggest that the action of B. pertussis on macrophages (or precursors) and neutrophils is not expressed in terms of suppression of emigration properties, as has been reported by others for lymphocytes, but is manifested in the alteration of glass-adherence characteristics. Within experimental limitations, it is believed that macrophages are possibly more involved in terms of altered function than are the polymorphonuclear cells.