Starch and chemotaxis. A histological study in the mouse

Primary interest in inflammation centers around the mechanism by which polymorphonuclear leucocytes emigrate from the circulating blood to an area of injury, a process apparently first designated as "chemotaxis" in 1888. Recent experimental studies have emphasized the role of ions in the pathogenesis of thrombi in the circulatory system following the implantation of plastics. The negatively charged leucocytes are attracted by positively charged plastics. Starch granules have a positive charge and, when implanted subcutaneously in the mouse, attract the negatively charged leucocytes. Sixty minutes after the subcutaneous implantation of starch granules in the subcutaneous tissue of mice polymorphonuclear leucocytes had begun to emigrate to the area. The number of leucocytes rapidly increased for 24 to 72 hours and then progressively decreased. By the 5th experimental day the number of leucocytes had decreased markedly and continued to decrease in their emigration to the granules of starch. The positive ionic charge associated with the granules of starch is neutralized by the adsorption of the negatively charged plasma protein ions. It is suggested that chemotaxis is an electrochemical phenomenon.