Macrophage interaction with skeletal muscle: a potential role of macrophages in determining the energy state of healing wounds.

A decrease in ATP and creatine phosphate (CP) is characteristic of local injury to skeletal muscle. Recent data have suggested adequate potential for high-energy phosphate production in the wounded tissue. Thus, an adequate explanation for the deficit in the high-energy tissue content in wounds was lacking. Since the wound has multiple components (muscle + cellular infiltrate), the tissue content represents the summation of these components. Therefore, a technique to separate these components was designed. Using a 0.5% solution of lambda-carrageenan as the wounding agent, the extensor digitorum longus muscles (EDL) of male Fisher rats were unilaterally wounded with intramuscular injections. Five days later, both wounded and contralateral nonwounded muscles were incubated in a standardized fashion. The groups of EDL were: wounded as described, contralateral nonwounded, or contralateral nonwounded with the addition to the incubate of 6 X 10(6)/ml lambda-carrageenan elicited peritoneal macrophages. Following incubation, the individual component parts of the system (muscle and macrophage) were rapidly frozen and assayed for high-energy phosphate and DNA content. Examination of the high-energy phosphate content of the separate components of a wound demonstrated that macrophages increased the ATP and CP content of normal skeletal muscle. Yet when total high-energy phosphate content was normalized for total DNA (muscle + macrophages) in the reconstituted system, the values approximated those of wounded muscle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)