Abstract
Chemotaxis of blood monocytes to zymosan activated serum was examined in 31 patients with bronchial asthma, using agarose plate method. 1. In a study on migration value of blood monocytes from healthy subjects, the chemotaxis (CT) was 0.74±0.04mm, the random migration (RM) 0.41±0.03mm and chemotactic differential (CD) 0.33±0.03mm. 2. The migration values of blood monocytes from the patients with bronchial asthma were almost the same, in non-attack and attack stages, as those from healthy subjects. In post-attack stages of bronchial asthma, the migration values such as CT, RM and CD, were all higher than those of healthy subjects: CT 1.66±0.17mm, RM 0.99±0.14mm and CD 0.67±0.07mm. 3. The CT and RM of blood monocytes from the cases with serum IgE levels over 801IU/ml were significantly lower than those from the cases with a level of less than 500IU/ml. There was no significant difference in the CD between the two groups. 4. There was no significant difference in migration value of blood monocytes between the cases with and without glucocorticoid therapy.
