Comparative actin polymerization in neonatal and adult bovine neutrophils in vitro

Neutrophils rely on active reorganization of the cytoskeleton during movement, and functional deficiencies in the cytoskeletal elements may result in impaired neutrophil-mediated host defense. We have compared and quantitated actin polymerization in neonatal (< or = 48 h old) and adult bovine peripheral-blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) using fluorescence flow cytometry. Baseline filamentous actin (F-actin) content of neonatal and adult PMN at time zero differed slightly but were not statistically different (p > 0.05). F-actin content of recombinant human C5a (10(-7) M)-stimulated neonatal PMN increased rapidly within 10 s of stimulation to 59.0% over baseline, then declined. F-actin in adult recombinant human C5a-stimulated PMN continued to increase for 30 s and was elevated 87.3% over baseline before subsequently declining. When stimulated with zymosan-activated bovine serum (10%), neonatal (120.7% increase) and adult PMN (115.1% increase) had similar profiles with no significant differences, and both groups reached peak F-actin levels at 30 s after stimulation. Neonatal PMN stimulated with platelet-activating factor (10(-6) M) attained peak F-actin values at 10 s (72.0% increase over baseline), but actin rapidly depolymerized by 30 s poststimulation (reduced to 29.0% increase). Adult PMN stimulated by platelet-activating factor also attained peak values by 10 s (97.6% increase over baseline), but in contrast to neonatal PMN the F-actin remained elevated at 30 s in the adult PMN (still increased 79.5%; p < 0.0.5 compared to neonatal F-actin).