Cytotoxicity of a perfluorocarbon blood substitute to macrophages in vitro.

Murine macrophage and macrophage-depleted splenocyte cultures were incubated under ambient oxygen with a commercially available perfluorocarbon blood substitute. The perfluorocarbon preparation was found to be selectively cytotoxic to macrophages. This finding may be significant in view of the preliminary therapeutic usage of these preparations. In addition, perfluorocarbons may be useful as a means of selectively removing macrophages from tissue and organ cultures.