Effect of cyanide on NADPH oxidation by granules from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

Cyanide has been shown to stimulate both oxygen uptake and hexose monophosphate shunt activity in phagocytizing human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. It also stimulates the oxidation of NADPH by a particulate fraction derived from phagocytizing cells. This stimulation of NADPH oxidase is not observed in the presence of exogenous Mn2+. Studies with purified enzymes have shown that CN- also stimulates NADPH oxidation by horseradish peroxidase or lactoperoxidase, suggesting that the respiratory burst might be initiated by activation of a peroxidase-like enzyme in the human polymorphonuclear leukocyte. Based on studies of others, however, it does not appear as though the enzyme is identical to myeloperoxidase. The mechanism of the CN- stimulation appears to involve an oxidatic chain reaction, since it stimulates markedly NADPH oxidation in the presence of an artificial superoxide-generating system.