TNFα Primes Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes for an Enhanced Respiratory Burst to a Similar Extent As Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide

We examined whether preincubating polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) with TNF alpha would result in an enhanced respiratory burst upon subsequent stimulation by various agents. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a known primer of PMN, was used as control. We found that both LPS (0.01 to 10.0 microgram/ml) and recombinant TNF alpha (0.001 to 1.0 microgram/ml) act as direct stimulants of PMN as measured by chemiluminescence. Sixty minutes of preincubation of PMN with 1 microgram/ml TNF alpha or 10 micrograms/ml LPS resulted in similar priming for the respiratory burst elicited by opsonized zymosan, phorbol myristate acetate, zymosan, zymosan-activated serum, aggregated immunoglobulin, and f-…