Trichomonacidal activity of human polymorphonuclear neutrophils: killing by disruption and fragmentation.

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) were shown to kill Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro; 10(2)-10(3) trichomonads were incubated with 3 x 10(6) PMNs on tissue culture plates, and surviving organisms were enumerated in pour plates. After 60 min of aerobic incubation at 37 C, 100% (+/- 0) of the trichomonads had been killed, and nitroblue tetrazolium was reduced at the interface between the PMNs and trichomonads. The importance of oxidative microbicidal systems was confirmed by the observations that only 12% +/- 12% of trichomonads were killed under anaerobic conditions and that aerobic killing was eliminated by the addition of catalase or superoxide dismutase. PMNs killed trichomonads in fresh or absorbed serum but not in bovine serum albumin, in heat-inactivated serum, or in the presence of 1 mM trypan blue; this finding suggested a role for alternative pathway activation of complement. Phase-contrast cinemicrography and electron microscopy revealed the pursuit and surrounding of individual trichomonads by groups of PMNs that were able to fragment the large protozoa and to phagocytize the pieces.