Macrophage activation by adjuvants in aging mice.

Peritoneal macrophages from young (3-8 mo) and aging (12-29 mo) mice of the C58, BALB/c, C3H/He, C57BI/6J, and B6D2F1 stains were compared for their capacity to become activated by various adjuvants in four assays. In chemiluminescence, activation by phorbol myristic acetate or zymosan of macrophages from aging mice of the C58, BALB/c, and C3H/He strains was increased approximately twofold greater than that of cells from young mice. A reversal of this was seen in the same three strains when measuring activation of phagocytosis by lipopolysaccharide, polyadenylate:polyuridylate (polyA:poly U), or muramyl dipeptide in that increased activity was induced readily in macrophages from young but not aging mice. Similarly, tumoricidal activity of macrophages from young but not aging mice was stimulated 6.0- and 4.4-fold by lipopolysaccharide and poly A:poly U, respectively, in the C58 strain (the only strain studied). Activation by lipopolysaccharide and poly A:poly U of the hexose monophosphate shunt in macrophages from the C58 and C3H/He strains also was significant in young but not aging mice, whereas it occurred in both age groups of the BALB/c and C57B1/6J mice. A reversal of response patterns was observed between aging female virgin and breeder C58 mice in the chemiluminescence and hexose monophosphate shunt assays in that the breeding mice mimicked the young virgin mice.