Hydrogen peroxide-releasing function of chemically elicited and immunologically activated macrophages: differential response to wheat germ lectin and concanavalin A.

Various types of mouse peritoneal macrophages were studied for H(2)O(2) release in the presence of wheat germ lectin or phorbol myristate acetate. Macrophages elicited 3 days before harvest by a single injection of thioglycolate, zymosan A, or a streptococcal preparation (OK-432) were highly responsive to wheat germ lectin, resulting in a marked increase in H(2)O(2) release. However, immunologically activated macrophages induced by double injections of live and heat-killed BCG at 15 and 3 days before harvest or by double injections of zymosan A or OK-432 at 20 and 3 days before harvest did not show any significant response to wheat germ lectin. On the other hand, all macrophages tested responded well to phorbol myristate acetate by augmentation of H(2)O(2) release. Concanavalin A inhibited wheat germ lectin- and phorbol myristate acetate-triggered H(2)O(2) release from all types of macrophages, but inhibition was much more marked in the case of wheat germ lectin-stimulated H(2)O(2) release. Succinylated concanavalin A (divalent concanavalin A) showed only slight suppressive action against macrophage H(2)O(2) release, and prostaglandin E(1) and dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate caused depression of H(2)O(2) release from OK-432-induced macrophages.