[Chemiluminescence of human neutrophils as affected by opportunistic microbes]

Chemoluminescence of neutrophils obtained from 24 healthy donors in response to Staphylococcus aureus Cowan, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli preopsonized with 5% fresh autologous serum or with pooled normal sera was studied. Chemoluminescent response to S. aureus was most pronounced in comparison with that to the other microbes. Neutrophils from most of the donors showed chemiluminescent response of medium intensity, their stimulation index (SI) being 10-12; neutrophils from some donors showed low response (their SI not exceeding 10), and some donors provided highly responsive neutrophils (their SI exceeding 20). Neutrophils from the latter group of donors retained their high SI over the longest period of time (60 minutes and more). Experiments made under the conditions of preopsonization with pooled normal sera indicated that differences in the response of neutrophils were linked with the individual features of these cells. Low response to P. aeruginosa and E. coli was, possibly, due to the antiphagocytic activity of these microorganisms. Differences in the response of neutrophils to antigens of opportunistic microbes, as well as in the dependence of this response from serum factors, may finally determine the result of the interaction between host defence factors and microorganisms at the infection atrium.