Cultured rat and purified human Pneumocystis carinii stimulate intra- but not extracellular free radical production in human neutrophils.

The production of free radicals in human neutrophils was studied in both Pneumocystis carinii derived from cultures of L2 rat lung epithelial-like cells and Pneumocystis carinii purified from human lung. Using the cytochrome C technique, which selectively measured extracellular superoxide generation, hardly any free radical production was observed after stimulation with cultured rat-derived P. carinii. A chemiluminescence technique, which separately measured intra- and extracellular free radical production, was subsequently employed to differentiate the free radical generation. It was established that 1) P. carinii stimulated intra- but not extracellular free radical production in human neutrophils. 2) opsonized cultured rat-derived P. carinii stimulated human neutrophils to a strong intra-cellular response of superoxide production, and 3) opsonized P. carinii. purified from human lung also stimulated human neutrophils to produce intracellular free radicals.