Limits of phagocytic power of macrophages

Abstract

The ability of peritoneal macrophages to take up different doses of antigen (sheep's erythrocytes) and of antigens differing in physicochemical properties (sheep's erythrocytes, rat erythrocytes, and typhoid vaccine) was studied. An increase in the dose of sheep's erythrocytes injected many times over had no effect on the quantity of antigen ingested by the macrophages within a definite time interval. In macrophages taken at short periods after injection of erythrocytes of the different species of animals into the mice, ability to take up these erythrocytes in vitro was sharply inhibited. Preincubation of macrophages (in vivo or in vitro) with all the antigens tested sharply increased their ability to phagocytose typhoid vaccine.