Oxidative Metabolism of Leukocytes and Its Relationship to Bactericidal Activity

Abstract

During the course of phagocytosis, normal polymorphonuclear leukocytes undergo remarkable alterations in oxidative metabolism which are insensitive to cyanide or azide. These events, collectively referred to as the respiratory burst, are listed in Table 1. Although neutrophils are equipped with a variety of bactericidal weapons, including non-oxidative processes such as hydrolytic enzymes and cationic proteins, several lines of evidence suggest that the respiratory burst plays a major role in the killing of

Table 1 The Respiratory Burst

many bacteria. Bacteria are ingested well under anaerobic conditions but most are not killed efficiently in this situation (1). Further, cells obtained from patients with chronic granulomatous disease fail to elicit a normal respiratory burst and are unable to adequately kill many types of microorganisms (2). Patients with this disease are highly susceptible to severe pyogenic bacterial infections which are frequently life-threatening.