[Change in the oxidative metabolism of macrophages during transformation into foam cells]

Oxidative metabolism of murine peritoneal macrophages was studied after cultivation in a mixture containing acetylated low density lipoproteins within 24 and 48 hr using luminol- and lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence. Chemiluminescence of foamy cells, induced by opsonized zymosan, was not distinctly altered as compared with native macrophages; at the same time, the rate of both lucigenin- and luminol-dependent spontaneous chemiluminescence was distinctly decreased. The imbalance of the oxidative reactions observed enables the authors to propose the antioxidative mechanism of atherosclerotic lesion.