FAILURE OF PRETREATMENT WITH GLUCOCORTICOIDS TO MODIFY THE PHAGOCYTIC AND BACTERICIDAL CAPACITY OF HUMAN LEUKOCYTES FOR ENCAPSULATED TYPE I PNEUMOCOCCUS

Abstract

Allison, Fred, Jr. (University Medical Center, Jackson, Miss.), and Martha H. Adcock. Failure of pretreatment with glucocorticoids to modify the phagocytic and bactericidal capacity of human leukocytes for encapsulated type I pneumococcus. J. Bacteriol. 89:1256-1261. 1965.-The influence of glucocorticoid administration for 4 days upon the bactericidal and phagocytic functions of leukocytes recovered from venous blood of healthy human beings was evaluated within an in vitro system that contained fully virulent, type I pneumococcus. Ingestion of pneumococcus by granulocytes spread upon a suitable surface, followed by thin slide cultures of the preparation, permitted precise quantitation of cellular phagocytic functions. It was found that granulocytes from healthy donors subjected to short-term glucocorticoid treatment ingested and killed pneumococcus as well as did cells obtained before therapy. Human leukocytes obtained after treatment with prednisolone functioned in a suspending medium of high ionic strength as well as did cells harvested before treatment, although the efficiency of both groups was significantly less than when manipulated in autologous serum.