Macrophage uptake of a lipoprotein-sequestered toxicant: a potential route of immunotoxicity.

An experimental system was chosen to investigate the bioactivity of a lipoprotein-sequestered toxicant at the cellular level based on recent studies demonstrating receptor-mediated uptake of lipoproteins by macrophages. Rat peritoneal exudate cell suspensions (PEC) were exposed to DDT and lipoprotein-sequestered DDT, followed by measurement of DDT uptake, metabolism, and cellular toxicity. In vitro uptake assays demonstrated that PEC suspensions treated for 10, 20, and 30 min with 2.5 microM lipoprotein-sequestered DDT had approximately a twofold increase over the amount of DDT associated with PEC treated with 2.5 microM free DDT. PEC were assayed for DDT metabolites to serve as a measure of the cellular internalization of the toxicant after treatment in vitro for 18 hr with either 1.5 microM DDT or lipoprotein-sequestered DDT. Evidence of DDT metabolism was only observed with PEC which had been treated with lipoprotein-sequestered DDT. These cells contained significantly higher amounts of DDT metabolites as compared to cells treated with unsequestered DDT (over an eightfold difference). Assays measuring macrophage phagocytic activity indicated that macrophages treated for 4.5 hr in vitro with 2.5 microM lipoprotein-sequestered DDT showed significant inhibition in their ability to phagocytize yeast particles. These results suggest that serum lipoproteins may facilitate the cellular uptake of lipoprotein-sequestered toxicants leading to altered cellular function (phagocytosis).