MACROPHAGE RECOGNITION OF SACCHARIDE CHAINS ON THE ERYTHROCYTES DAMAGED BY IRON-CATALYZED OXIDATION

Mouse erythrocytes oxidized with an iron catalyst ADP/Fe3+ chelate attached to the monolayers of mouse resident and thioglycollate-induced peritoneal macrophages in the absence of serum, indicating that the macrophages recognized the oxidized erythrocytes. The recognition was partially prevented when the oxidized cells were treated with dithiothreitol, suggesting that disulfide formation is involved, in part, in the generation of the membrane sites recognized by macrophages. Phosphatidylserine is unlikely to be the determinant on the oxidized cells because it was not detected on the outer surface of the oxidized cells. The recognition by resident macrophages was effectively inhibited by N-acetylneuramin lactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, glycophorin A, and disialoganglioside G(D1a), but poorly by lactose, asialoglycophorin A, and monosialoganglioside G(M1). In addition, the recognition was partially inhibited by L-fucose and human lactoferrin. The recognition by thioglycollate-induced macrophages was not inhibited by glycophorin A but was partially inhibited by L-fucose, lactoferrin, and oligosaccharides from band 3 glycoprotein. Enzymatic cleavage of the poly-N-acetyllactosaminyl saccharide chains of band 3 and lactoferrin resulted in a loss of the inhibitory activity. These results suggest that sialosaccharide chains of ADP/Fe3+-oxidized erythrocytes, possibly those on glycophorin A, are mainly involved in the recognition by resident macrophages, and poly-N-acetyllactosaminyl saccharide chains, possibly those on band 3, are partly involved in the recognition both by resident and thioglycollate-induced macrophages. Oxidation of erythrocytes may induce change in these membrane glycoproteins, like aggregation, which renders their saccharide chains susceptible to the macrophage recognition. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.