Differences in peroxidase localization of rabbit peritoneal macrophages after surface adherence

Unlike resident peritoneal macrophages, which contain peroxidase in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and perinuclear cisternae (PN), macrophages elicited into the rabbit peritoneal cavity by various stimulants lack the enzyme. Since we had previously found that such peroxidase reactivity rapidly appears in the RER and PN of blood monocytes after surface adherence in vitro, we wondered whether the enzyme could be similarly produced in elicited macrophages by adherence. Cells from peritoneal exudates (96 hours after endotoxin injection) were harvested, suspended in culture medium, and allowed to adhere to fibrin-coated or plastic surfaces. Following culture for various intervals, they were fixed, incubated for peroxidase, and examined by electron microscopy. We observed that these elicited cells, which initially contained no cytochemically detectable peroxidase, acquired peroxidatic activity in the RER and PN within 2 hours after adherence in culture. Thus macrophages, like blood monocytes, may rapidly acquire peroxidase reactivity as a consequence of plasma membrane: external surface interaction. In view of this finding, it would seem unwise to use peroxidase localization as the basis for advocating the existence of two separate lines of peritoneal macrophages, as has been proposed by previous investigators.