Transmembrane-mediated changes in [Ca2+] are involved in the signaling pathway leading to macrophage cytocidal differentiation: implications of localized changes in intracellular [Ca2+] and of interferon priming on Ca2+ utilization

GA Underwood and DW Riches

Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80262.

Macrophage cytocidal activation requires the sequential impingement on the macrophage of a priming stimulus (interferon [IFN] alpha, beta, or gamma) and a triggering stimulus (such as polyinosinic acid:polycytidylic acid [poly [I:C]] or bacterial lipopolysaccharide). The mechanism of progression from the IFN-primed state to the cytocidal state is poorly understood. By quantifying the level of expression of a gene product (complement component factor B [Bf]) associated with cytocidal activation and through the use of phenotypically distinct populations of macrophages (unprimed and IFN-primed), we have investigated the functional necessity of changes in intracellular concentration of free calcium ions ([Ca2+]i) in signaling the transition from the primed to the cytocidal state. Elevating the [Ca2+]i by incubation of unprimed macrophages with the calcium ionophore, ionomycin, failed to induce the expression of Bf. By contrast, Bf was expressed at high levels when IFN-primed macrophages were exposed to ionomycin, suggesting that priming induced within the macrophages the capacity to respond to a nonspecific change in [Ca2+]i. Quantification of the [Ca2+]i in response to exposure to ionomycin revealed an initial transient elevation, followed by a secondary sustained component. No differences in these changes were observed between unprimed and IFN-primed macrophages. We therefore questioned if changes in [Ca2+]i were also implicated in the transition between the primed and the cytocidal state using the ligand, poly [I:C]. In contrast to ionomycin, incubation of IFN-primed macrophages with poly [I:C] did not sustain measurable increases in [Ca2+]i, yet fully stimulated the transition from the IFN primed to the cytocidal state. However, incubation of IFN-primed macrophages with poly [I:C] in the presence of 1) a Ca2+/ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)- N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid buffer calculated to clamp the extracellular concentration of free calcium ions to a value approximately equal to the resting [Ca2+]i; 2) the calcium channel blocker verapamil; or 3) the intracellular Ca2+ antagonists (W-7, W-13, and TMB-8) substantially inhibited the induction of Bf. Collectively, these data support the following conclusions. First, that changes in [Ca2+]i comprise an important element in the induction of progression from the IFN-primed to the cytocidal state. Second, the failure to detect global changes in [Ca2+]i in response to the ligand, poly [I:C], suggests that changes in [Ca2+]i or Ca2+ movement may occur in either a spatially restricted or in an asynchronous cyclical fashion and are not detected by population fluorescence measurements. Third, the source of the relevant Ca2+ is extracellular.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Volume 3, Issue 3, pp. 335-347, 03/01/1992
Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Cell Biology