Fig. 2.

Hypertonic saline (HS) pretreatment of PMNs inhibits increases in epithelial conductance (G) associated with PMN transmigration. Isolated neutrophils (4 × 10⁶ cells) were incubated with HBSS (PMN) or HS (HS-PMN, 40 mM hypertonicity) for 20 min and then washed with HBSS and carefully placed on the apical side of confluent T₈₄ monolayers. A chemotactic gradient was established by adding fMLP (10⁻⁶ M) to the basolateral compartment. Changes in monolayer conductance were then monitored for 70 min. Data are expressed as a percentage of baseline conductance. *Significant differences between cells in the presence vs. absence of HS. *P < 0.05 by t-test, means ± SE, n = 5.