Fig. 2.
Effect of lactoferrin on neutrophil apoptosis and function. (A) Peripheral blood neutrophils were incubated with medium alone or with medium containing iron-free lactoferrin at the concentrations shown and apoptosis measured by loss of DiOC6 staining after 9 h in culture. All incubations also contained 10 μg/ml polymyxin B. Data are mean ± s.d. (n = 5) and *P < 0.04, **P < 0.02. (B) Neutrophils were incubated with 100 μg/ml lactoferrin (LTF) for 20 h prior to stimulation with fMLP and measurement of superoxide generation. Data are expressed as mean ± s.d. of the area under the curve (AUC) per 106 viable cells (n = 3). *P < 0.01. (C) Neutrophils isolated from RA synovial fluid were incubated with medium alone, 50 ng/ml GM-CSF or 100 μg/ml lactoferrin. Apoptosis was measured by active caspase 3 staining after 9 h in culture. Data are mean ± s.d. (n = 3) and *P < 0.05. All data were analysed by Student's t-test.