Effect of radical scavengers on canine peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity and production of active oxygen.

Production of active oxygen by canine peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes (PBLs) from beagle dog was examined by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence production. The canine PBLs rapidly produced the active oxygen in parallel with the number of cells when PBLs were cocultured with canine leukemia-derived CL-1 cells as target cells. Cytolysis of the target cells and active oxygen production were inhibited linearly by the addition of benzoic acid and n-propyl gallate as hydroxyl radical scavenger. However, superoxide dismutase and tiron which are scavengers of superoxide anion did not inhibit the cytotoxicity so much at low concentrations that inhibited the induction of luminol-dependent chemiluminescence. These results suggest that hydroxyl radical production by stimulated PBLs might be playing a major role of cytotoxic action in the case of canine system.