The chemokinetic response of human neutrophils

A computer-assisted single cell assay that allows quantification of the locomotive behavior of individual cells and a flow-through system that allows study of response of individual cells to stimulation were utilized to study the chemokinetic response of neutrophils. The range of basal mean rate of locomotion (mROL) and chemokinetic response to 10(-9) mol/L formylmethionyl leucyl phenylalanine (FMLP) was determined for neutrophils of eight normal adults. The basal mROL was 8.2 +/- 1.5 um/min and 6.2 +/- 1.0 um/min; the rate after 10(-9) mol/L fMLP was 12.1 +/- 2.1 and 9.5 +/- 1.8 um/min in 2.0 g% and 0.05 g% HSA, respectively. The mean increase in ROL for neutrophils was 50%. Assay with the flow-through system shows that the chemokinetic response--increase in mROL of a population of neutrophils in response to 10(-9) mol/L--is due to an increase in ROL when cells are actively moving and not due to a decrease in the amount of time the cell spends inactive. Studies of individual cells within the populations show that chemokinetic response to 10(-9) mol/L fMLP is highly variable. The majority of cells (77%) respond with an increase in ROL; the minority (23%) are nonresponders that characteristically move at ROL greater than or equal to 14 um/min prior to stimulation and do not change ROL or exhibit a net decline in ROL in response to 10(-9) mol/L fMLP. The dose response of a population of neutrophils and of individual neutrophils to serial addition of 10(-10) to 10(-6) mol/L fMLP shows that the fMLP dose dependence for maximal chemokinetic response is highly variable among individual cells. Seventeen percent of cells do not respond to any fMLP concentration; 25% of neutrophils exhibit maximal response to 10(-10) mol/L fMLP, while 50% and 25% of cells showed peak chemokinetic response to 10(-9) mol/L and greater than or equal to 10(-8) mol/L fMLP, respectively. These studies document the variability in the locomotive responses of peripheral blood neutrophils. Understanding the causes of variability in the chemokinetic responsiveness of individual neutrophils may improve our understanding of how the cellular inflammatory response in man can be modulated.