Effects of intravenous injection of BCG or Freund's complete adjuvant on swine alveolar macrophages.

The intravenous injection of killed mycobacteria in oil (Freund's Complete Adjuvant) or BCG produces an accumulation of macrophages in swine alveolar airspaces. The collected alveolar macrophages were studied in vitro: expression of Fc and complement surface receptors, uptake of chicken red blood cells and in vitro spreading were not modified by either treatment, whereas the cytostatic activity of alveolar macrophages decreased following administration of high doses of BCG or Adjuvant. These "treated" cells have a lower thymidine incorporation rate, which suggests that cell accumulation is related to an influx of blood monocytes and not to an in situ cell multiplication.