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Title: Harvesting the noncirculating pool of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in rats by hetastarch exchange transfusion (HET): yield and functional assessment

Journal Article · · J. Leukocyte Biol.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5603837

Isolation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) provides an opportunity to study PMN activity in vitro and to label PMN for study of in vivo kinetics. However, simple phlebotomy (SP) of a small animal frequently yields too few PMN for in vitro handling, while PMN harvested from an induced-peritonitis may not accurately reflect PMN in a less stimulated state. We report a novel method of harvesting PMN from the circulation of rats, using hetastarch exchange transfusion (HET), which is both time and animal sparing. HET harvested 8-fold more PMN than SP. In vitro cell function was examined with assays of adherence, chemotaxis, bacterial killing, and superoxide generation. No significant (p less than 0.05) difference was found between PMN obtained by HET and pooled-PMN obtained by SP. In vivo function was examined following labeling with indium 111-oxine. The kinetics pattern described suggested normal migratory activity when compared to previous reports. The data demonstrate that rats possess a relatively large, noncirculating pool of PMN which is readily accessible by HET.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Irvine
OSTI ID:
5603837
Journal Information:
J. Leukocyte Biol.; (United States), Vol. 42:5
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English