Phagocytic properties of isolated human eosinophils.

Viable eosinophils from normal human peripheral blood were separated by sedimentation through a nutrient-enriched linear gradient of sodium hypaque. Ingestion experiments with these cells showed that eosinophils would phagocytose latex beads coated with a mixture of allergen and corresponding allergic human serum. The stimulatory activity of the allergic serum correlated with the IgG fraction and not with those properties associated with IgE. Eosinophils isolated from allergic donors were found to be inferior in their phagocytic ability when compared with eosinophils from normal cell donors.