[Flow-cytofluorometric study of bactericidal granules in blood phagocytes of animals with various species sensitivity to experimental plague infection].

AIM: Compare the content of bactericidal granules (BG) in blood phagocytes of animals, that differ by species sensitivity to plague infection, under the conditions of measuring, that ensure automatic differentiating by this parameter of monocytes and granulocytes of human blood.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Human whole blood leukocytes were studied, as well as from 7 animal species: mice, guinea pigs, golden hamsters, white rats, rabbits, dogs and horses. Acridine orange (AO) was used for supra-vital staining in primary (bactericidal) granule cells. Relative BG content was measured in separate cells in conventional units of red fluorescence intensity by flow cytofluorometry.

RESULTS

Deficiency of AO molecules in BG, that correlates with deficiency of leukocyte elastase in cells, that is most pronounced in mice and lest pronounced in rabbits, was established to be characteristic for all the blood phagocytes of all the laboratory animal species sensitive to plague. Blood phagocytes of dogs and horses, that were non-sensitive to plague, differed by high heterogeneity by the studied parameter, and in horse blood innate immunity cells were detected, that contained 2.5 times higher amount of BG, than blood granulocytes of humans.

CONCLUSION

Leukocyte BG, that have enzyme cationic proteins: elastase, cathepsin G, protease 3 and myeloperoxidase, play and important role in protection of organism from plague infection.