Comparative stimulation of granulocyte adherence and chemotaxis by bacterial products.

Many inflammatory stimuli increase both in vitro granulocyte adhesiveness and motility. The present investigation compared the effects of bacterial products on in vitro granulocyte adherence to nylon fiber and granulocyte motility. Escherichia coli endotoxin and Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli culture filtrates enhanced both motility and granulocyte adherence to nylon. Column chromatography of S. aureus culture filtrate demonstrated that similar molecular weight components stimulated both motility and granulocyte adherence. In contrast, endotoxin stimulated granulocyte adherence but not chemotaxis in plasma-free medium. In addition, a group D streptococcal culture filtrate enhanced motility but not adhesiveness of plasma-free granulocytes. These studies indicate that inflammatory stimuli may interact with granulocytes in concert to enhance both adhesiveness and motility, or they may interact independently to stimulate one in vitro function preferentially.