Adhering lung macrophages produce superoxide demonstrated with desferal-Mn(IV)

It has been shown that H2O2, the dismutation product of O2., is produced at cell-surface interfaces. Nevertheless, the relationships between the degree of attachment itself, type of surface, and O2. production are not clear. Superoxide production can be measured by the O2.-dependent reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium to an insoluble formazan. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) may be unable to scavenge O2. produced between alveolar macrophages (AM) and a surface. Desferal-Mn(IV) (Des-Mn), a low molecular weight mimic of SOD, is protective against paraquat toxicity in vivo, presumably because of specificity for O2-. Using that assumption, Des-Mn was used to measure O2. production that occurred during adherence of AM. AM suspensions were placed on fibronectin-coated glass coverslips or uncoated glass coverslips or non-stick tissue culture plates. Adherence to the surfaces varied with fibronectin greater than glass greater than non-stick and the percent formazan positive cells was 60, 24, and 4, respectively. With SOD present, the percentage of formazan positive cells were 40, 17, and 2; however, in the presence of Des-Mn the percent stained cells was 4, 4, and 0. When phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) was added during adherence, the percent of formazan positive cells was 82, 57, and 44, respectively. With PMA, Des-Mn was able to inhibit 88-100% of formazan staining whereas SOD inhibition decreased more markedly with increasing adherence. These results indicated that the degree of attachment correlated with both the degree of NBT reduction and the relative effectiveness of Des-Mn versus SOD to scavenge O2..