Glucose stimulates phagocytosis of unopsonized Pseudomonas aeruginosa by cultivated human alveolar macrophages.

Glucose has previously been shown to increase the in vitro phagocytosis of unopsonized Pseudomonas aeruginosa by freshly explanted murine peritoneal macrophages (PM) and cultivated alveolar macrophages (AM). This study examined the effect of glucose on the same phagocytosis process in human AM in order to determine whether this phenomenon is conserved among species. Freshly explanted human AM phagocytosed unopsonized P. aeruginosa at a low level (2 bacteria/macrophage/30 min), whereas mouse AM ingested a negligible number of P. aeruginosa (0.01 bacterium/macrophage/30 min). Glucose had no effect on this or other phagocytic processes in freshly explanted mouse or human AM. However, following in vitro cultivation for 72 h, human AM phagocytosed three to four times more unopsonized P. aeruginosa than did freshly explanted cells, but only in the presence of glucose. This glucose-inducible phagocytic response had also been observed in cultivated murine AM. Although similar increases were also detected for the phagocytosis of latex particles and complement-coated sheep erythrocytes by cultivated human AM, these processes were not glucose dependent. The lack of response to glucose in freshly explanted mouse AM was attributed to insufficient glucose transport; however, freshly explanted human AM exhibited significant facilitative glucose transport activity that was inhibitable by cytochalasin B and phloretin. Taken together, these results suggest that the process of glucose-inducible phagocytosis of unopsonized P. aeruginosa is conserved among macrophages from different species, including humans, and that AM, but not PM, required cultivation for this glucose effect to occur. Glucose transport by AM appears to be necessary but not sufficient for phagocytosis of unopsonized P. aeruginosa.