The effect of polystyrene beads on cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate concentration in leukocytes.

After incubation with polystyrene latex beads for 5 min. the cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP) content of human peripheral blood leukocyte suspensions was increased severalfold. Preparations enriched in mononuclear cells and containing only 0-20% polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and no visible platelets exhibited a quantitatively similar response. Purified fractions of cells containing 85-90% PMN responded to polystyrene beads with a much smaller increase in cyclic AMP content. Phagocytosis of paraffin oil emulsion in the unfractionated mixed human leukocyte preparation was associated with little or no change in cyclic AMP levels. There was no change in cyclic AMP content of rabbit alveolar macrophages or guinea pig PMN during phagocytosis of polystyrene beads. All of these observations are consistent with the view that particle uptake per se does not increase cyclic AMP levels in phagocytic cells. It seems probable that the increase in cyclic AMP concentration that results when unfractionated human blood leukocytes are incubated with polystyrene beads occurs in cells other than PMN.