Differential effects of lithocholate on rat neutrophil activation

Neutrophils (PMNs) may be exposed to high concentrations of biliary products during cholestasis and other hepatic disorders. We have previously reported that bile and certain bile salts enhance superoxide (O2-) release from neutrophils activated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) (Dahm et al.: Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 95, 82, 1988), suggesting that PMN oxidative metabolism might be altered in toxicoses or disease states characterized by elevations in serum bile salts and other biliary products. In the present study, we characterized the priming effect of lithocholate for O2- release and also examined the effects of lithocholate on enzyme release from PMNs. PMNs preincubated with lithocholate at concentrations which did not directly stimulate O2- release (3-100 microM) and activated with PMA released greater amounts of O2- than controls exposed to PMA alone, illustrating a priming effect. O2- release from lithocholate-primed PMNs rose sharply between 5 and 10 min after PMA addition and then ceased between 10 and 30 min. The priming effect of lithocholate toward PMA-activated PMNs was reduced approximately 50% by washing PMNs after lithocholate addition and was not dependent on extracellular Ca2+, although removal of Ca2+ from the incubation buffer enhanced the cytotoxicity of lithocholate toward PMNs. In Ca2(+)-supplemented medium, lithocholate primed PMNs for O2- release when formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP, 10(-8)-10(-6) M) or calcium ionophore, A23187 (10(-7) or 10(-6)M), was used to activate PMNs. Lithocholate (100 microM) by itself had only marginal effects on release of lysozyme or beta-glucuronidase from PMNs. However, lithocholate (100 microM) inhibited beta-glucuronidase release from FMLP-stimulated PMNs to near-baseline levels. When FMLP was added to PMNs prior to lithocholate, beta-glucuronidase release was not reduced as it was when the order of addition was the reverse. Lithocholate had no effect on PMA-stimulated lysozyme release. These results indicate that lithocholate has different actions on PMN O2- release and enzyme release and suggest that lithocholate might exert its action on the PMN plasma membrane.