Thiourea causes endothelial cells in tissue culture to produce neutrophil chemoattractant activity.

We describe neutrophil chemoattractant activity that is produced by cultured bovine aortic and pulmonary arterial endothelial cells when incubated with thiourea, a substance that causes increased permeability pulmonary edema in animals. The chemoattractant activity was present in culture supernates and cell lysates of endothelial cells incubated with thiourea but was not present in untreated cells. Production of chemoattractant activity was not associated with cell death; viable cell counts and cell homogenate angiotensin converting enzyme levels were not affected, and Cr release was only slightly elevated after incubation with thiourea. At least 1.5 h of incubation with 0.5 mM thiourea was necessary for generation of neutrophil chemoattractant activity. Culture supernates from pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells and lung fibroblasts did not show increased neutrophil chemoattractant activity after incubation with thiourea. The chemoattractant had both chemokinetic and chemotactic properties, was heat stable, and was extractable into organic solvents. Meclofenamate, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, minimally inhibited chemoattractant production, whereas 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acid (ETYA), an inhibitor of both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, completely abolished generation of chemoattractant activity, suggesting that the activity could be a product of arachidonic acid metabolism. These results demonstrate that endothelial cells can produce a substance(s) with neutrophil chemotactic activity. Production of neutrophil chemoattractant activity by endothelial cells could be important in polymorphonuclear leukocyte accumulation at injured vascular sites.