Influence of chemotactic agents on the locomotion of equine polymorphonuclear and mononuclear leucocytes

Subpopulations of equine leucocytes, polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells, were separated from whole blood on a discontinuous Percoll gradient and used in studies of chemokinesis and chemotaxis. Polymorphonuclear cells responded to the chemoattractant properties of zymosan-activated plasma in Boyden chamber and agarose microdroplet assays but they responded only slightly (Boyden chamber) or not at all (agarose microdroplet) to the peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). Equine mononuclear cell movement was increased by FMLP in both assay systems and these cells also responded to zymosan activated plasma in the Boyden chamber assay but not in the agarose microdroplet. It is concluded that factors controlling equine polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cell movements into inflammatory exudates may differ.