Evaluation of human monocyte function in vitro.

Mononuclear phagocytes play a role in immunologic phenomena as well as in defence reactions of the organism. It is therefore important that clinicians have possibilities of evaluating their functions. A combination of simple and reproducible methods was set up to make this evaluation possible. The tests described in this paper are performed using peripheral blood monocytes and include: (1) phagocytic capacity of Staphylococcus aureus and 51Cr-labelled sheep erythrocytes, (2) bactericidal capacity with S. aureus and (3) handling of 51Cr-labelled sheep erythrocytes after 18 h in culture. They explore both the afferent limb of the immune response and the capacity to remove and destroy foreign material. The results obtained from 45 normal subjects are reported.