Peripheral blood and intrarenal phagocytic chemiluminescence during acute kidney graft rejection.

During organ graft rejection, soluble mediators of inflammation are released into the polymorphs (PMNs) and monocytes recruited from the blood. One functional capacity of polymorphs and monocytes/macrophages is the production of cytotoxic activated oxygen species upon stimulation, which may contribute to the rejection process. Nothing is known about the influence of allograft rejection on this inflammatory cell property. Chemiluminescence (CL) allows measurement of respiratory burst capacity in small cell samples. Zymosan-induced and luminol-amplified CL of diluted whole blood, separated PMNs, and mononuclear cells from peripheral venous blood, as well as of intragraft phagocytes was measured after allogeneic and autologous kidney transplantation in untreated dogs. CL of separated PMNs, mononuclear cells, and intragraft phagocytes was significantly elevated during allograft rejection. In autologous kidneys transplanted to recipients of allografts, CL was also increased in the autologous grafts during rejection of the allogeneic ones, indicating a systemic alteration in phagocyte function.