Generation of chemiluminescence by a particulate fraction isolated from human neutrophils. Analysis of molecular events.

A particulate fraction isolated from human neutrophils by homogenization, then centrifugation at 27,000 g, was demonstrated to generate chemiluminescence. This luminescence required the addition of reduced pyridine nucleotide and was very low in fractions from resting normal cells. Stimulation of neutrophils with opsonized zymosan, phorbol myristate acetate, or ionophore A23187 resulted in marked enhancement of the chemiluminescence measured in subsequently isolated particulate fractions. Stimulation did not boost the luminescence produced by fractions from cells of patients with chronic granulomatous disease. The chemiluminescence of particulate fractions from stimulated neutrophils was linear with increasing protein concentration, had a pH optimum of 7.0, and was higher with NADPH as substrate than with NADH. These results confirm previous studies suggesting that the enzyme system responsible for the respiratory burst in neutrophils is present in this fraction. The particulate fraction was used to examine the nature and origin of neutrophil luminescence by investigating the effect on this phenomenon of certain chemical and enzymatic scavengers of oxygen metabolites. Results suggest that the energy responsible for the luminescence of particulate fractions and, presumably, the intact cell, is derived from more than one oxygen species and that luminescence is a product of the interaction of these species and excitable substrates within the cell.