[Luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of peripheral neutrophils in asthmatic patients]

To evaluate the role of the neutrophil in the pathophysiology of bronchial asthma, we examined the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of peripheral neutrophils (CL) in steroid-dependent asthmatic patients during an acute attack (n = 18), during stable period (n = 10), and in normal controls (n = 21). When stimulated with formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP 0.1 microM), the CL of patients in acute attack was lower than that of normal controls. (5.29 +/- 1.25 vs. 9.29 +/- 0.84 relative light units p less than 0.01) Among 18 patients, we could examine 10 patients during the stable period after receiving steroids. The CL of those 10 patients during the stable period was significantly higher than their CL during acute attacks, when evaluated by the paired t-test (p less than 0.05), and was not very different than in normal controls. When stimulated with opsonized zymosan (5 mg/ml), CL was similar in the three groups. We also examined the CL of peripheral neutrophils of normal persons after the preincubation with serum of patients during acute attack and stable period. When stimulated with fMLP, CL after preincubation with serum of patients during acute attack was lower than CL after preincubation with the serum of patients during the stable period. It was suggested that the respiratory-burst activity of peripheral neutrophils in acute asthmatic attack was reduced to the chemotactic stimulus of fMLP.