Hydrogen Peroxide-Releasing Function of Chemically Elicited and Immunologically Activated Macrophages: Differential Response to Wheat Germ Lectin and Concanavalin A

Abstract

Various types of mouse peritoneal macrophages were studied for H2O2 release in the presence of wheat germ lectin or phorbol myristate acetate. Macrophages elicited 3 days before harvest by a single injection of thioglycolate, zymosan A or a streptococcal preparation (picibanil OK-432) were highly responsive to wheat germ lectin, resulting in a marked increase in H2O2 release. Immunologically activated macrophages induced by double injections of live and heat-killed BCG at 15 and 3 days before harvest or by double injections of zymosan A or OK-432 at 20 and 3 days before harvest did not show any significant response to wheat germ lectin. All macrophages tested responded well to phorbol myristate acetate by augmentation of H2O2 release. Concanavalin A inhibited wheat germ lectin- and phorbol myristate acetate-triggered H2O2 release from all types of macrophages, but inhibition was much more marked in the case of wheat germ lectin-stimulated H2O2 release. Succinylated concanavalin A (divalent concanavalin A) showed only slight suppressive action against macrophage H2O2 release, and prostaglandin E1 and dibutyryl cyclic AMP caused depression of H2O2 release from OK-432-induced macrophages.