The production of plasminogen activator by afferent but not efferent lymph cells emigrating from chronic granulomatous lesions in sheep.

Subcutaneous granulomas were induced in sheep by injecting Freund's adjuvant. At varying times thereafter afferent and efferent lymphatics draining the granulomas were cannulated. Lymph was collected for periods up to several days or weeks from either normal skin or from inflammatory lesions 15 to 120 days after the initiation of the lesions. The fibrinolytic activity of cells and cell culture medium in which cells were grown was assayed by using 125I-fibrin plates. No detectable enzyme activity was found from normal afferent, normal efferent, or stimulated efferent lymph cells. Afferent granuloma cells produced a plasminogen-dependent, DFP inhibitable protease activity that was dependent on the cell concentration and the incubation time. Results of cell separation techniques such as sedimentation velocity, adherence on fibrin plates, and Sephadex G-10 fractionation showed that the large, macrophage-like cell population in afferent lymph was secreting the plasminogen activator. The lymph cells collected from lesions 1 to 2-mo-old were more active than an equivalent number of cells collected from earlier or later lesions. When tuberculin was injected directly into lesions the lymph cells that appeared in the subsequent 1 to 2 days produced more enzyme per cell. The relationship between plasminogen activator and other possible mediators that appear in either the cells or plasma of afferent lymph is discussed.