The influence of serum on random migration and chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leucocytes: methodological evaluation using sera from infection-prone patients and normals.

The effects on normal polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) of chemotactic and chemokinetic factors in sera from normal subjects and infection-prone patients were examined by means of the leading-front technique, using a modified Boyden chamber. The analysis scheme used made it possible to differentiate between chemotactic and chemokinetic factors and demonstrated that different factors account for the major chemotactic and chemokinetic activities of serum. The major chemotactic activity of unactivated serum was heat-labile, and the chemotactic activity of factor XII-deficient sera was normal, suggesting the major chemotactic activity to be distinct from C5a and factor XII-dependent pathways. The existence of both heat-stable and heat-labile chemokinetic factors was shown. The possibility that the reduced chemokinetic effect of several patient sera was caused by abnormal levels of the serum proteins alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-macroglobulin and albumin was excluded.