The effect of bovine serum albumin on the in vitro inhibition of chemotaxis by anti-inflammatory agents.

The anti-inflammatory agents, phenylbutazone, naproxen and niflumic acid inhibited in vitro rabbit peritoneal neutrophil chemotactic responsiveness to Escherichia coli derived chemotactic factor/s when added to cells suspended in 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA). Inhibition of chemotaxis by these drugs was markedly diminished as the BSA concentration was increased to 2%. Experiments with phenylbutazone demonstrated that inhibition of chemotaxis could be observed using neutrophils suspended in 2% BSA by either increasing the drug concentration or by preincubating the cells suspended in 0.1% with the drug prior to the addition of the additional BSA. These data suggest that protein binding can prevent in vitro inhibition of neutrophil chemotaxis by anti-inflammatory agents.