The effect of temperature on the chemiluminescence response of neutrophils from rainbow trout and man.

An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the ability of rainbow trout neutrophils to function at the normal temperatures for this species. These studies were carried out with the chemiluminescence (CL) assay and the results were compared to those obtained with cells from man. The magnitude of the CL response was approximately equivalent for the 2 species, but trout neutrophils developed peak responses at lower temperatures than did human neutrophils. However, at the normal body temperatures for the 2 species, the peak of the CL response to a phagocytic but not to a soluble stimulus was more delayed for trout neutrophils than for those of man. The response of trout neutrophils to a phagocytic stimulus was more rapid at 23 degrees C than at 15 degrees C, the normal temperature for trout. Neutrophil oxidative metabolism thus appears to be adapted fairly well to the relatively low temperatures at which rainbow trout live, although the response to a phagocytic stimulus appears to develop more rapidly at a somewhat higher temperature.