Isolation and properties of phagocytic vesicles. II. Alveolar macrophages.

Phagocytic vesicles were obtained by density gradient centrifugation of homogenized rabbit alveolar macrophages that had ingested emulsified paraffin oil contained Oil Red O. The phagocyte vesicles floated and thereby were separated from the soluble fraction and from other cell components which sedimented. The purity of the isolated vesicles was documented by electron microscopy, chemical and enzyme analysis. The vesicles contained 87% of the cell-associated Oil Red O, and were essentially free of DNA, RNA, succinic dehydrogenase, and glucose-6-phosphatase. Acid phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase, and catalase were transferred from the sedimenting fraction to the phagocytic vesicle fraction during phagocytosis, whereas enzyme activities of the soluble fraction remained unchanged. Half of the catalase of resting macrophages was in the pellet fraction and, compared with acid phosphatase, greater amounts of digitonin were required to release full activity. Such differential latency has been described for enzymes of peroxisomes vs. those of lysosomes. Compared with polymorphonuclear leukocyte vesicles studied previously, phagocytic vesicles of macrophages had more electron-dense material and lower Oil Red O:protein, phospholipid:protein, and enzyme:protein ratios. It is thus probable that secondary lysosomes become part of the macrophage vesicle. When paraffin oil particles, the stimulus for phagocytic vesicle formation, were washed away from the macrophages, acquisition of hydrolases by preformed vesicles ceased, i.e. transfer of these enzymes into phagocytic vesicles occurred only during or shortly after the formation of new vesicles. As noted previously by others, the content of acid hydrolases of stimulated alveolar macrophages was doubled in comparison to normal cells. The difference between stimulated and normal macrophages was even more marked when isolated phagocytic vesicles were analyzed. Vesicles from stimulated macrophages had 3-5 times more enzyme activity (per milligram of vesicle protein or per amount of paraffin oil ingested) than did vesicles from normal cells.