The nitroblue tetrazolium reaction in human granulocytes adherent to a surface.

Normal human granulocytes are able to reduce the yellow dye, nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT), to insoluble blue formazan. This has been a useful reaction for the recognition of chronic granulomatous disease of childhood (CGD) and the carrier state, because granulocytes froin these patients are deficient in their ability to reduce this dye(l). It has also been suggested that granulocytes from patients with bacterial infections(2,3) and newborn infants(4,5) have increased capacity to reduce NBT, while cells from patients taking corticosteroid medications have decreased ability for NBT reduction(6). These observations are of interest because of the possible correlation of this intracellular biochemical reaction with the bactericidal capacity of the phagocyte. The interpretation of such studies is hampered by the variation in results that are obtained with different methods. It has been shown that normal, resting granulocytes in suspension reduce only small amounts of NBT, and that phagocytosis of particles seems to be necessary for NBT to gain access to the living cell(7,8). With phagocytosis of latex particles, there is a significant increase in extractable formazan from the phagocytizing cells when compared to resting