Figure 5. Norepinephrine-mediated suppression of wound macrophage phagocytosis is mediated by protein kinase A (PKA).
Macrophages isolated from 120-hour wounds were treated with the PKA inhibitor H-89 for two hours prior to treatment with physiologic norepinephrine (NE +, 10−9 M) or pharmacologic norepinephrine (NE ++, 10−6 M) for 18 hours and assessment of phagocytosis of E.coli. PKA blockade alone had no effect on wound macrophage phagocytosis (p=NS, data not shown). PKA inhibition prevented physiologic norepinephrine-mediated suppression of wound macrophage phagocytosis and partially prevented pharmacologic norepinephrine-mediated suppression (p=NS vs. Untreated Control).