A new technique, requiring small amounts of cells, for the parallel study of chemiluminescence and phagocytosis via different receptors in the same cell population

A role for immunology in invasion biology

Invasive species are of increasing conservation and economic concern, yet mechanisms underlying invasions remain poorly understood. We propose that variation in immune defences might help explain why only some introduced populations become invasive. Introduced species escape many of their native diseases, but also face novel pathogens that can induce costly, and sometimes deadly, immune responses in naïve hosts. Therefore, favouring less resource-demanding and dangerous defence mechanisms and allocating a greater proportion of resources to growth and reproduction should favour invasion. Specifically, we argue that successful invaders should reduce costly systemic inflammatory responses, which are associated with fever and metabolic and behavioural changes, and rely more heavily on less expensive antibody-mediated immunity. Here we provide supporting arguments for this hypothesis and generate predictions that are testable using tools from the growing field of ecological immunology.

Quantifying and comparing constitutive immunity across avian species

Studies that blend a comparative approach to immunology with an appreciation for physiological ecology are defining an important new field in biology--ecological immunology. However, a panel of assays that permits a comparative approach to immunology is not yet available. In this paper, we describe several assays of innate immunity that do not require species-specific reagents and therefore ideal for use in comparative immunology studies. We optimized the assays for use in small birds, where sample volumes are limiting. The bactericidal assay measures the capacity of whole blood to kill microorganisms, and integrates many important components of constitutive immunity. The phagocytosis assay measures the phagocytic capacity of macrophages in whole blood. Bioassays for mannan binding protein and lysozyme can be used to measure inflammation-induced levels of these acute phase proteins in the plasma. Species differences in bactericidal and phagocytic activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were observed in populations of captive and in free-living birds, demonstrating the assays' utility for multi-species comparisons. However, clay-colored thrushes (Turdus grayi) that were stressed by prolonged capture and handling had diminished phagocytic and antibacterial activities, indicating the need to conduct these assays soon after capture. When birds were challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), levels of mannan-binding protein, lysozyme, and haptoglobin were elevated and bactericidal and phagocytic activities of blood were altered, indicating that these measurements are sensitive to the current infection status of the animal. All assays could be done on as little as 10 microL of blood or plasma and should be useful in field studies of comparative immunity.

Fluorescent liposomes as quantitative markers of phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages

A new phagocytic assay based on liposome ingestion by alveolar macrophages (AMs) is described. Fluorescent microspheres were encapsulated in liposomes, which allowed rapid enumeration by fluorometry. Liposomes made in the presence of vitronectin had the protein exposed on their outer surfaces, as determined by immunolabelling. Liposomes and rat AMs were incubated under conditions favorable for phagocytosis. Observation by light and electron microscopy showed AMs engulfing liposomes, with gradual transfer of fluorescent label from liposome to cell interior. This transfer was due to bona fide phagocytosis, as evidenced by (1) fluorescence of liposome-encapsulated dihydrofluorescein (DHF)-zymosan exclusively within AMs and (2) triggering of the respiratory burst by zymosan-associated liposomes only under conditions that allowed phagocytosis. Phagocytic activity was expressed as liposomes/cell, the average number of liposomes phagocytosed per macrophage. We used this technique to follow phagocytosis over time and to measure the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and vitronectin on AM phagocytosis.

Bovine neutrophils recruited by endotoxin to a teat cistern continuously produce oxygen radicals and show increased phagocytosis and extracellular chemiluminescence

Bovine neutrophils were harvested from a teat cistern following endotoxin infusion and were compared with blood neutrophils by measurements of chemiluminescent and phagocytic activity towards C3- and IgG-opsonized and unopsonized yeast particles. Both phagocytosis and luminol-dependent chemiluminescence elicited by all three particles were enhanced in the teat cells. The increase in the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence towards C3- and IgG-opsonized particles was due to an enhanced extracellular release of myeloperoxidase. The observed increase in phagocytosis of unopsonized yeast was shown to reflect the interaction between up-regulated CR3 receptors on the surface of the teat neutrophils and the yeast particles. A high chemiluminescent activity of the teat neutrophils in both the luminol- and lucigenin-dependent systems in the absence of a phagocytic prey indicated that the NADPH oxidase was permanently active and that myeloperoxidase was continuously released by the cells. Treatment of neutrophils with cytochalasin B showed that the chemiluminescence and phagocytosis of teat neutrophils were less sensitive to this drug than that of blood neutrophils. These results indicate that the teat neutrophils have up-regulated their receptors for IgG- and C3-opsonized and unopsonized yeast on the cell surface by the action of actin. The cells also have a permanently active NADPH oxidase dependent on the association with actin and show a higher tendency than blood neutrophils to secrete the content of their primary granules during phagocytosis.

Isolation and phagocytic properties of neutrophils and other phagocytes from nonmastitic bovine milk

A technique for the separation of neutrophils from macrophages-epithelial cells in samples of nonmastitic bovine milk with low cell counts has been developed. The procedure is based on centrifugation in a discontinuous metrizamide gradient and is rapid, taking less than 40 min. The recovery of the neutrophils is about 30% and their viability about 90%. The isolated neutrophils showed an appreciable unstimulated luminol- and lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence, which was due to NADPH oxidase rather than to xanthine oxidase. The neutrophils had a higher rate of ingestion of C3-opsonized particles than macrophages-epithelial cells, whereas no significant differences in phagocytosis of IgG-opsonized yeast or unopsonized yeast were detected between the two cell populations. The macrophages-epithelial cells produced no luminol-dependent chemiluminescence and induced considerably lower activity in the lucigenin-dependent system than neutrophils, indicating that these cells contain no myeloperoxidase. Analyses of the activity of the neutrophils in response to C3-opsonized yeast particles showed that the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of cells isolated from residual milk increased significantly over the lactation period. Moreover, a tendency to a higher phagocytosis and chemiluminescence of neutrophils isolated from residual milk than from stripping milk was indicated.