Superoxide production by phagocytic leukocytes

Mononuclear phagocytic leukocytes, as well as polymorphonuclear leukocytes, produce and release superoxide at rest, and this is stimulated by phagocytosis. Of the mouse monocytic cells studied, alveolar macrophages released the largest amounts of superoxide during phagocytosis, followed by normal peritoneal macrophages. Casein- elicited and "activated" macrophages released smaller quantities. In the guinea pig, polymorphonuclear leukocytes and casein-elicited macrophages were shown to release superoxide during phagocytosis whereas alveolar macrophages did not. Superoxide release accounted for only a small fraction of the respiratory burst of phagocytosis in all but the normal mouse peritoneal macrophage, the guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocyte, and probably the mouse alveolar macrophage. There are obviously considerable species differences in O2- release by various leukocytes that might reflect both the production and/or destruction (e.g. by dismutase) of that substance.