Relationship between pH, sodium, and shape changes in chemotactic-factor-stimulated human neutrophils

The relationship between the chemotactic-factor-elicited changes in the intracellular pH and the shape of human neutrophils was investigated using simultaneous measurements of both parameters. The results demonstrate first that fMet-Leu-Phe and leukotriene B4 elicit qualitatively similar pH and shape change responses from the neutrophils. A relationship between the chemoattractant-elicited decrease in cytoplasmic pH and the shape changes is indicated by several findings including: 1) the similarities in the time courses of the two responses, 2) the ability of propionic acid to induce a transient and pertussis-toxin-sensitive shape change response, and 3) the ability of the calcium ionophore A23187 to similarly induce both responses under conditions when the degranulation is minimized. On the other hand, several other results indicate that the drop in pH is not a sufficient condition for the chemotactic-factor-stimulated shape changes. These include: 1) the ability of pertussis toxin to inhibit the shape changes induced by propionic acid and by A23187 without affecting the drop in pH, and 2) the observation that the drop in pH induced by propionic acid persists significantly longer than the shape change. Increasing the cytoplasmic pH by adding ammonium chloride was also found to cause shape changes in the neutrophils. The response to the base differs in two important aspects from that caused by propionic acid: it is pertussis-toxin-insensitive, and it is long-lived. Chemotactic factors have been found to induce a shape change under conditions when the internal pH was artificially increased or decreased, indicating that it is not the absolute cytoplasmic pH that represents the internal signalling parameter. The results are discussed in terms of the activation of the cytoskeletal network of the neutrophils by chemotactic factors.