Exposure of human neutrophils to oxygen radicals causes loss of deformability, lipid peroxidation, protein degradation, respiratory burst activation and loss of migration.

The effects of oxygen radical generating system of H(2)O(2) on neutrophil deformability, lipid peroxidation, protein degradation, chemotaxis, random migration and activation were studied in the presence and absence of selected anti-oxidants such as vitamin E and carbon monoxide. Hydrogen peroxide caused a significant loss of neutrophil deformability (measured as an index of filtration), loss of chemotaxis (using chemoattractant) and loss of random migration (spontaneous migration) under agarose gel. Hydrogen peroxide also caused a significant increase in lipid peroxidation (measured as malonyldialdehye) and protein degradation (measured as free alanine). Hydrogen peroxide also caused activation of neutrophils (measured by nitroblue tetrazolium dye test). Pre-incubation of neutrophils with vitamin E prevented significantly the increase in lipid peroxidation without affecting the loss of neutrophil deformability. However, pre-incubation with carbon monoxide prevented significantly the increase in protein degradation and the loss of neutrophil deformability. The results indicate the importance of oxidatively damaged cell proteins in compromising the rheologic behaviour and migration of neutrophils, particularly under oxidative stress conditions.