Proceedings of the Physiological Society, 13-14 December 1991, Imperial College London Meeting: Communications

Abstract

Control 0.17 ± 0.02 (6) 0.35 ± 0.08 (9) Elastase (50 pg ml-') 0.45, 0.23 (2) 0.64 ± 0.07 (4)* Poly-L-lysine (50 pg ml-) 0.34 ± 0.04 (4)* 0.61 ± 0.06 (6)* When endothelial cells were perfused for 15 min with the neutrophil proteolytic enzyme elastase, fractional extraction of both albumin and insulin increased significantly (Table 1,-mean ± S.E.M. (n), *P < 0.05). Moreover, exposure of the endothelial cells to the polyeation poly-L-lysine also resulted in a marked increase in extraction for albumin and insulin. Our findings suggest that neutrophil-mediated increases in endothelial cell solute permeability in vivo may in part be due to the action of specific neutrophil cationic proteins.