Lipopolysaccharide receptor on rabbit peritoneal macrophages. I. Binding characteristics

The Bordetella pertussis endotoxin, labeled with tritium ((3H)-LPS), bound irreversibly and nonspecifically to rabbit lung macrophages, but bound reversibly and specifically to both resident and elicited rabbit peritoneal macrophages. The specific binding capacity of the macrophages was saturated with about 3 X 10(4) LPS molecules per cell. The binding was inhibited with the homologous unlabeled endotoxin, but not at all with endotoxin from Proteus mirabilis, thus assessing ligand specificity. Endotoxins from other bacteria gave intermediate inhibition value. Binding of tritium-labeled pertussis endotoxin was significantly inhibited by one of the two polysaccharides (PS-1) present in this endotoxin, but neither the other polysaccharide (PS-2) nor the Lipid A fragment exhibited such activity. These results strongly suggest the presence of a lectin-like receptor for LPS on the membrane of rabbit peritoneal macrophages.