Evidence of transient effect by lignocaine on alveolar macrophage morphology

Alveolar macrophages were extracted from rat lung by pulmonary lavage. The lavage fluid consisted of Joklik's minimum essential medium alone, containing lignocaine, or lignocaine with the addition of 10% foetal calf serum. Although the presence of lignocaine increased the macrophage yield 3-fold, in the absence of foetal calf serum the resulting macrophage population exhibited gross cytoplasmic vacuolation. The presence of foetal calf serum prevented this vacuolar formation. There was no difference in either the osmolarity or pH of the media and although the vacuolation failed to produce changes in a cell viability assay, the presence of the morphological change is obviously undesirable when functional studies are to be carried out.