Measurement of chemotaxis of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes in filters by counting the number of cells in a single plane and comparison with leading front method.

A method is described for measuring the chemotactic response in filters of human neutrophils by counting the number of cells in a single plane at a constant distance below the top of the filters. This method gives results that are similar to those obtained by counting the total number of cells that have migrated into the filters. The results obtained by this method are compared with the leading front method. Under most conditions the results are similar whether obtained by the leading front or cell number methods except that counting the number of cells is often more sensitive. In the presence of p-nitrophenyl 4-chlorobutylphosphonate, however, the chemotactic response appeared to be inhibited as determined by counting the number of cells stimulated to migrate but enhanced as measured by the leading front method.