Phagocytic sensing and engulfment of dying cells and extracellular bodies initiate an intracellular signaling cascade within the phagocyte that can polarize cellular function and promote communication with neighboring non-phagocytes. Accumulating evidence links phagocytic signaling in the heart to cardiac development, adult myocardial homeostasis, and the resolution of cardiac inflammation of i...

Although several studies have indicated that antidiuretic hormone (ADH) enhances the phagocytic function of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) in shock syndromes, it remains unknown what influence ADH exerts upon the individual phagocytic components of this system. The present investigation was designed to evaluate the effects of endogenous ADH on the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macroph...

HIV-1 infection of mononuclear phagocytic cells, comprising monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells, has been the subject of extensive research over the past 20 years. The roles of mononuclear phagocytic cells in transmission of HIV-1 infection and as reservoirs of actively replicating virus have received particular attention. Experimental data have also accumulated about the effects of HIV...

-Reticuloendothelial (RE) phagocytic and circulating plasma opsonic activity was evaluated in rats transplanted with the Walker 256 carcinoma tumour in an attempt to evaluate the role of opsonic protein in governing the functional state of the macrophage system. Animals transplanted intramuscularly with 2 x 104 viable tumour cells manifested 2 peaks of RE stimulation at 6 and 14 days posttransp...

Phagocytic vesicles from rabbit lung macrophages produced superoxide in the presence of NADH or NADPH. At 37 degrees C, these vesicles generated 51+/-7.8 nmol O(2) (-)/min per mg protein in the presence of 0.5 mM NADPH. The apparent K(m) for NADPH and NADH (66 and 266 muM, respectively), the pH optimum for the reaction (6.9), and the cyanide insensitivity were similar to properties of plasma me...

Phagocytosis is an important function of both insect haemocytes and mammalian blood cells. Linden bugs and cotton leaf worms have been suggested as new alternative models for ecological and drug toxicology but no data on their haemocyte physiology have been published. Our assays with particle ingestion of the NBT test were carried out on prohaemocytes, granulocytes, plasmatocytes and spherulocy...

The phagocytic function of human-peripheral-blood-derived mononuclear and polymorphonuclear leukocytes can be regulated by external stimuli. In particular, the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins fibronectin and laminin and serum amyloid P component can increase the phagocytic activity of these cells. Phagocytosis enhancement by the ECM requires two distinct signals to the ingesting cell. First...

Bacterial growth and survival in the environment as well as in association with human hosts are constrained by the action of phagocytic eukaryotic cells. Phagocytic predation on bacteria by host immune cells shares a number of cellular mechanisms with free-living protozoa. In and outside the human host, bacteria growing in biofilms appear to be less vulnerable to phagocytic predators than plank...

Ingestion of opsonized foreign particles by phagocytic cells is a critical event in host defense against invading microorganisms, and factors that influence the rate and extent of phagocytosis are of particular interest. Fibronectin, a molecule found both in plasma and as a component of extracellular matrix, binds to phagocytic cells and enhances opsonin-mediated phagocytosis by monocytes, macr...