Differences in the ability of neutrophils and monocytes to traverse epithelial occluding junctions

This study examines the effect of epithelial permeability on 1) the passage of the chemoattractant tritiated formyl methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (3H-fMLP; m.w. 437) and 2) the migration of leukocytes. In addition, it also compares the kinetics of neutrophil and monocyte transepithelial migration. As we had demonstrated with neutrophils (Milks et al.: Journal of Cell Biology 96:1241, 1983), when the permeability of the epithelium decreased, the accumulation of 3H-fMLP and the emigration of monocytes also decreased. When neutrophils and monocytes traversed epithelia with similar permeability, neutrophil accumulation was at least ninefold greater than that of monocytes at 30, 60, and 90 min. During the same time intervals, the number of neutrophil invasion sites/mm epithelium exceeded the number of monocyte invasion sites by at least fivefold, with approximately twice as many neutrophils as monocytes traversing each invasion site. These studies demonstrate that epithelial permeability affects the passage of the chemoattractant and the emigration of leukocytes. In addition, the enhanced ability with which neutrophils traverse occluding junctions compared to monocytes helps to explain, at least in part, the more rapid accumulation of neutrophils at inflammatory lesions.