Adherence and aggregation of granulocytes

SIR-I read with interest the article by McGil-len and Phair [1] in the January issue of the Journal. The authors report that nylon fibers failed to “activate” plasma in terms of augmenting adherence of granulocytes or in terms of affecting the aggregating activity of granulocytes and that the presence of plasma in the test suspension of granulocytes had no influence upon the measured adherence of such cells to nylon. These findings are in rather sharp contrast to those from our laboratory, where nylon has always functioned admirably as an activator of plasma, producing C3 conversion, factor B conversion, and potent granulocyte aggregating activity (e.g., [2]) as well as augmented adherence in the presence of plasma. In view of such discrepant findings, the technical details of the study of McGillen and Phair deserve some scrutiny.