Neutrophilic granulocyte kinetics in normal man

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington

A method has been described for the labeling, separation, and estimation of radioactivity in samples of DFP³²-tagged neutrophilic granulocytes. Studies were performed to identify the potential errors of this procedure, and it was then applied to a group of 12 normal men. A mean of 43% of transfused, labeled neutrophilic granulocytes was found in the circulation, resulting in the calculation of a mean maximum of 0.68 x 10⁹/kg neutrophilic granulocytes in the total peripheral vascular pool. The mean half-time of disappearance of these cells was 3.8 hr, and a mean maximum neutrophile turnover rate through peripheral blood of 3.2 x 10⁹/kg per day was calculated. The failure of labeled cells to disappear from the blood at an exponential rate suggested that the instantaneously equilibrating blood neutrophile pools may be in slower equilibrium with a larger, extravascular neutrophile compartment.

Note:
(With the Technical Assistance of Yvonne Betson and Ruth Henderson)

Submitted on August 31, 1964