Non-immune non-activated chicken macrophages destroy murine fibroblasts.

Non-immune non-activated chicken bone marrow-derived macrophages (BM M phi) killed murine embryonic fibroblasts in vitro. Following precultivation for 10-35 days chicken BM M phi had the capacity to destroy normal murine embryonic fibroblasts at effector: target ratios of 10:1 to 1:1. Optimal killing was observed following cocultivation of M phi and fibroblasts for 48-72 hrs. Addition of LPS neither initiated nor potentiated M phi-mediated killing. This study demonstrates that chicken M phi have the capacity to destroy, in vitro, cells of phylogenetically distant species, similarly to the ability of murine M phi to kill chicken fibroblasts. It is suggested that vertebrate M phi xenolytic potential is analogous to the capacity of invertebrate phagocytes to destroy xenografts.