Superoxide production by wound neutrophils. Evidence for increased activity of the NADPH oxidase.

Oxygen radical secretion by neutrophils is potentiated or "primed" by extravascular migration into wounds. To define this change in responsiveness more precisely we measured superoxide production by blood and wound neutrophils from rabbits using formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine and phorbol myristate acetate as agonists. In all experiments, the time- and dose-dependency of superoxide secretion were the same for blood and wound neutrophils. However, wound neutrophils produced significantly more superoxide. Furthermore, the cytochrome b component of the NADPH oxidase was found in greater quantities within wound neutrophils. We conclude that priming does little to alter the requirements for activating the NADPH oxidase but does significantly increase the velocity of superoxide generation. The data suggest that alterations in the assembly and function of the NADPH oxidase may contribute to enhanced superoxide secretion by wound neutrophils.