A chemotactic inhibitor in synovial fluid.

Synovial fluid was found to contain an inhibitor of neutrophil chemotaxis. The activity of this inhibitor was masked in native synovial fluid, but could be detected in fluid in which complement had been deactivated by mild heating. The inhibitor was most effective against the chemotactic activity of zymosan-activated serum (C5ades arg). It had little effect when N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine served as chemoattractant. Inhibition was not the result of a direct effect on the neutrophils, since incubation of cells with synovial fluid did not alter their chemotactic response. The inhibitory activity was destroyed by boiling the synovial fluid or treating it with trypsin, suggesting that it is a protein (or proteins); it was not affected by hyaluronidase treatment. Gel filtration revealed that the inhibitor was present in native as well as decomplemented synovial fluid, and that its molecular weight was in the vicinity of 25,000. It is proposed that this inhibitory activity plays a role in the regulation of the inflammatory response in joints.