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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI107620

Enhancement of Random Migration and Chemotactic Response of Human Leukocytes by Ascorbic Acid

Edward J. Goetzl, Stephen I. Wasserman, Irma Gigli, and K. Frank Austen

Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Medicine, Robert B. Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

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Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Medicine, Robert B. Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Find articles by Wasserman, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Medicine, Robert B. Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Find articles by Gigli, I. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Department of Medicine, Robert B. Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02120

Find articles by Austen, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Published March 1, 1974 - More info

Published in Volume 53, Issue 3 on March 1, 1974
J Clin Invest. 1974;53(3):813–818. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107620.
© 1974 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published March 1, 1974 - Version history
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Abstract

Incubation of human leukocytes with ascorbic acid at neutral pH and at concentrations 10-50 times that of normal blood levels augmented both the in vitro random migration and chemotaxis of the cells by 100-300% without influencing their phagocytic capacity. Enhancement of mobility by ascorbate was evident for isolated neutrophils, eosinophils, and mono-nuclear leukocytes and was independent of the specific chemotactic stimulus. Stimulation by ascorbate of the hexose monophosphate shunt of adherent neutrophils and augmentation by ascorbate of neutrophil mobility had comparable dose-response relationships, could be reversed by washing the cells, and were both suppressed by preincubation of the neutrophils with 6-aminonicotinamide, but not with the neutrophil-immobilizing factor. Glutathione, the proposed intermediate for ascorbate action, similarly stimulated hexose monophosphate shunt activity and enhanced migration. The enhancement in vitro of leukocyte mobility by ascorbate at concentrations found in some normal tissues, therefore, appears to be dependent upon stimulation of the leukocyte hexose monophosphate shunt.

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