Function of phagocytes in experimentally induced colitis in rabbits. II. The Shwartzman phenomenon in the colon.

Adhesion, phagocytosis, chemotactic and random migration, nitroblue tetrazolium dye reduction of peritoneal exudate neutrophils and macrophages, fibrinogen level, gelation of soluble fibrin and serial dilution protamine sulfate test were investigated in 115 New Zealand white rabbits with experimentally induced Shwartzman phenomenon in the colon, and in control animals. The results presented in this report demonstrated impairment of chemotactic migration of phagocytes in the presence of endotoxin. The depression was dose-dependent and less marked when neutrophils were stimulated with monocyte-derived chemotactic factor or with casein, than with complement-derived chemotactic factor. The prolonged depression of chemotactic migration of neutrophils and macrophages in rabbits with colitis, however, did not affect the healing time of the ulcers in the colon.