Enhancement of human polymorphonuclear leukocyte adherence to plastic and endothelium by phorbol myristate acetate. Comparison with human C5a.

The adherence of circulating neutrophils to vascular endothelium represents a necessary step in the chemotactic emigration of neutrophils to extravascular inflammatory sites. Studies of neutrophil adherence induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) were undertaken to determine the ability of a nonchemotactic neutrophil stimulus to provoke increased adherence. The authors found that the adherence of human neutrophils to plastic surfaces or confluent monolayers of endothelial cells is enhanced in a concentration-dependent fashion by exposure of neutrophils to PMA. The effect of PMA concentration (0.1-5.0 ng/ml) on increased neutrophil adherence parallels that observed for superoxide anion generation and release of lysosomal enzymes from specific granules. Whereas complement C5a-treated neutrophils exhibited a fourfold to fivefold increase in adherence to endothelial cells, PMA-treated neutrophils showed a 10-fold to 20-fold increase. The ability of PMA to cause increased neutrophil adherence to endothelium appeared to be directed primarily at the neutrophil. Pretreatment of neutrophils with PMA was as effective as coincubation in causing increased adherence to plastic surfaces or confluent cultured endothelial cells, but pretreatment of endothelial cells with PMA failed to promote neutrophil adherence. Alteration of neutrophil cytoskeletal structures by cytochalasin B treatment did not prevent subsequent PMA-stimulated neutrophil adherence. These results demonstrate that increased neutrophil adherence to surfaces can be induced by a nonchemotactic stimulus and that neutrophil adherence is independent of organized microfilaments.