The effect of methylmethacrylate on chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

The effect of methylmethacrylate on chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes was evaluated by an in vitro method that involved migration of human leukocytes under agarose. Chemotactic factors produced during growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli remained chemotactically active in the presence of a methylmethacrylate concentration of 1.25 per cent, which was the highest tested. The methylmethacrylate also did not alter the activity of the chemotactic factor produced by zymosan activation of normal human serum. However, when methylmethacrylate was added to normal human serum prior to zymosan activation, a methylmethacrylate concentration of 0.312 per cent significantly depressed the subsequent zymosan-induced chemotactic activity and concentrations above 0.312 per cent abolished it. When methylmethacrylate was added to the polymorphonuclear leukocyte suspensions, there was significant depression of the migration of cells at a concentration of 0.312 per cent, and at concentrations of 0.625 and 1.25 per cent no leukocyte migration occurred.