[Secretory activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes]

The author's own data and those from the literature concerning the secretory activity of neutrophilic granulocytes as a process disconnected in time and associated with various periods of myeloid tissue cells differentiation are summarized. The previously unknown phenomenon of formation of promyelocytic granules devoid of peroxidase is characterized. A notion of "proexocytosis" and "nondegranulation exocytosis" as a peculiar form of secretory activity of neutrophilic granulocytes during phagocytosis and inflammation had been put forward. The ultrastructural mechanisms of formation of the non-phagocyte type of resistance and resorptive cell resistance are considered. A microtest for determination of the secretory activity of neutrophilic granulocytes (lysosome cation test) is proposed for diagnostic purposes. Preliminary data suggest that this test may prove useful in some diseases for the evaluation of their severity and stage, the efficacy of the therapy given, and for prognosis.