Chemiluminescence resulting from an interaction between imipramine and human polymorphonuclear leukocytes

The addition of imipramine to a suspension of resting polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) resulted in the generation of chemiluminescence (CL) (100,000 cpm with 1 X 10(-4)M imipramine). In the presence of a particle (zymosan) capable of activating the PMNs to generate reactive oxygen species, the magnitude of CL observed with 1 X 10(4)M imipramine was greatly enhanced (greater than 1,000,000 cpm). No CL was detected upon the addition of imipramine to PMNs isolated from a chronic granulomatous child or to alveolar macrophages isolated from rats. Another tricyclic antidepressant, amitriptyline, failed to generate CL with PMNs either alone or in the presence of zymosan; however, both imipramine and amitriptyline generated CL upon addition to the xanthine oxidase-purine superoxide generating system. Although the mechanism by which this drug-cell interaction results in the generation of CL is not known, the observations are suggestive that the CL may originate, in part, from the activation of imipramine by some reactive oxygen state(s).