No abstract

The experiments described in this report are an extension of previous observations that certain adrenal steroids, when added in vitro, are able to influence the ameboid migration of leucocytes (Ketchel and Favour, 1953 a). Although other investigators have noted effects on leucocytes of adrenal steroids added in vitro (Martin et al., 1954, Leahy andMorgan, 1952), the capillary tube method of measuring leucocyte migration has proved sensitive enough to permit dose-response relationships to be determined.The capillary tube method was first used by Wright (1915), and later by Hoist (1921), Ketchel and Favour (1953), and O'Neill and Favour (1955. This consists of centrifuging small capillary tubes filled with blood so that a buffy coat of leucocytes is formed at the interphase between the packed red cells and the plasma. The distance which the leucocytes migrate into the plasma can then be measured. Ketchel and Favour (1955) showed that the migration of leucocytes in a blood sample from a healthy individual tends to remain fairly constant from day to day. However, 6-or 5-fold differences may occur in the average migration rates of normal individuals. It was also noted that acute and chronic illnesses are accompanied by wide fluctuations in leucocyte migration. The major control of leucocyte migration is mediated by factors in the plasma. Fractionation of the plasma indicates that two protein fractions oppose one another in their effect--Cohn's fraction II enhances leucocyte migration, and Cohn's fraction I I I inhibits leucocyte migration. MetkodsThe details of studying leucocyte migration by the capillary tube method have been described in a previous publication (Ketchel and Favour, 1955). In the present experiments, heparinized venous blood was separated into cells and plasma by centrifugation. The cells were washed in Hanks's solution (Hanks and Wallace, 1949), and 0.2 ml. of washed cells

No abstract

No abstract