Phagocytosis of cadmium microcrystals by human milk macrophages in vitro.

Using an in vitro microassay (phagocytosis of cadmium microcrystals saturated with human serum albumin) the phagocytic activity of human milk macrophages and glass-adherent blood leukocytes, obtained from healthy adult women and physiological neonates, was compared. It was established that the early milk contains lower percentage of glass-adherent phagocytes than peripheral blood and, in addition, their phagocytic activity, i.e. the mean number of particles engulfed per cell, was significantly lower as compared to blood leukocytes of adult women and newborns.