Release of hydrogen peroxide from polymorphonuclear leukocytes stimulated with lambda-carrageenan.

The production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) that are exposed to lambda-carrageenan (100 micrograms/ml) and 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA, 100 ng/ml) was measured by a colorimetric method. After a lag period of 15 min the release of H2O2 by carrageenan-stimulated PMNs increased until a plateau level was reached at 60 min. The amount of H2O2 released was dependent on the number of cells in well or the concentration of carrageenan, reaching a maximum production of H2O2 at 5 X 10(6) cells per 3-cm dish and 100 micrograms/ml of carrageenan, respectively. The maximum amount of released H2O2 from carrageenan-treated PMNs was approximately 11 n moles/hr/10(6) cells. In contrast, TPA-stimulated PMNs released H2O2 linearly for 60 min without a lag period and produced a maximum of 60 n moles/hr/10(6) cells. These results show that lambda-carrageenan stimulates an oxidative burst from in vitro PMNs and furthermore suggest that these carrageenan-stimulated PMNs release sufficient H2O2 to induce DNA damage in mammalian cells.