Elaboration of toxic oxygen by-products by neutrophils in a model of immune complex disease.

Contact between human neutrophils and aggregated immunoglobulin G bound to micropore filters has been studied as a model of the pathogenesis of tissue damage in immune complex disease. Contact with this surface, as well as with plain filters and polystyrene petri dishes, induced neutrophils to elaborate superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide and to generate chemiluminescence, which has been attributed to singlet oxygen. Pretreatment of the cells with cytochalasin B decreased these activities but increased release of lysosomal beta-glucuronidase, suggesting that degranulation and the burst of oxygen metabolism that characterizes phagocytes are independently regulated functions. Toxic oxygen metabolites released from neutrophils are highly reactive and could mediate tissue injury at sites of inflammation.