Prevention of neutrophil chemotactic deactivation by ascorbic acid

The locomotion of human neutrophils deactivated by pretreatment with appropriate concentration of chemoattractant was investigated in experimental conditions capable of dissociating random from truly directional motility. It was shown that deactivated neutrophils lose true chemotactic responsiveness, being unaffected by the rate of locomotion. Ascorbic acid, when present in appropriate concentrations during the deactivation step, completely prevented the loss of true chemotactic responsiveness by cells--that is, their chemotactic deactivation.