Factor-specific deactivation of leucocyte chemotaxis in vivo.

This report analyses the locomotory capacity of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNL) isolated from 7 patients with bacterial meningitis. 7 healthy control subjects were also investigated in parallel. It was found that PMNL from the patients suffering from meningitis, isolated both from peripheral blood and from the cerebrospinal fluid, had lost their ability to respond chemotactically to activated serum but not to the chemotactic peptide f-Met-Leu-Phe. The normal chemotactic responsiveness of blood PMNL was restored once the patients recovered from infection.