MACROPHAGE FUNCTION AND THE CYTOSKELETAL SYSTEM: INHIBITION OF PHAGOCYTIC UPTAKE BY THE CYTOSKELETAL DISRUPTIVE TERTIARY AMINE LOCAL ANESTHETICS

Abstract

The macrophage participates in immunological phenomena which must be mediated through its cell periphery. Of these phenomena, the ability of the macrophage to actively phagocytise opsonized particles long has been familiar to students of inflammation and immune reactions. The phagocytic response of the macrophage to opsonized particles is initiated only after recognition between the macrophage membrane and the opsonized particle is established. The mechanism by which recognition at the cell surface is translated into the phagocytic response by the macrophage remains to be elucidated. Observations at the subcellular level have implicated the cytoskeletal system, an orderly array of subplasmalemmal microfilaments and microtubules, as a participant in the phagocytic response of macrophages. Recent observations on the pharmacologic ability of tertiary amine local anesthetics to disrupt the cytoskeletal system of various cell types resulting in cell surface rearrangement (Poste et al., 1975; Poste, Papahadjopoulos and Nicolson, 1975), has provided means by which to obtain data on the coordinated function of microfilaments and microtubules in phagocytising macrophages.