Impaired random migration in young guinea-pig macrophages: Relationship to their procoagulant activity

Both macrophage procoagulant activity (PCA) and migration capacity were tested in parallel in young (2 wk.) and adult 12 (wk.) guinea-pigs. The PCA of oil-elicited peritoneal macrophages was assayed by the ability to decrease the recalcification time of normal guinea-pig plasma, while random migriation was determined by the capillary tube method. The two measured macrophage functions were observed during incubation for up to 20 h, with or without 0.1-10 mu g of immunomodulator lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The results show that macrophages from young animals express a significantly higher PCA, but smaller random migration than those of adults. A clear negative correlation was demonstrated between macrophage PCA and locomotor potency in both groups. The findings in this report suggest that impaired monocyte/macrophage motility in early post-natal life may be attributed, at least partly, to their better PCA.