Staphylococcidal capability of rabbit peritoneal macrophages in relation to infection and elicitation: induction and elicitation of activated macrophages.

The capability of macrophages to inactivate ingested staphylococci can be augmented when repeated infection is followed by specific elicitation with staphylococcal lysate. The increase in staphylococcidal capability with specific elicitation after infection is not dramatic but is statistically significant. The percentage of change in staphylococcidal capability after infection and specific elicitation is systematically related to the staphylococcidal capability of the populations of macrophages in the same rabbits studied prior to infection. When the capability of the initial populations of macrophages has been high, the percentage of change after infection and elicitation may be slight or even negative. When the staphylococcidal capability of the initial population of macrophages in a given rabbit has been low, there is typically a significant increase in this capability after infection and elicitation. It is shown at the cellular level that it is possible to evoke a population of activated macrophages, by a procedure which is analogous to procedures reported as useful in human practice.