Instability of leukocyte aggregation: lack of evidence for leukoembolization during various states of inflammation

This study centers on the question of whether the phenomenon of leukocyte aggregation, which is typical to inflammatory conditions, is pathogenic per se. We examined patients and laboratory animals in whom the presence of aggregated leukocytes in the peripheral blood was documented by direct visualization and where, despite the presence of aggregated leukocytes, neither the patients nor the laboratory animals showed clinical or pathological evidence for leukoembolization. Our in vitro findings about the reversibility of the phenomenon of leukocyte aggregation help to explain the above-mentioned observations as well as the well-known daily clinical experience that, despite complement activation and other aggregatory stimuli, there is no clinical or pathological evidence for leukoembolization.