LEUKOCYTE MOBILIZATION TO SKIN-LESIONS IN DOGS

A suction blister technique was used in 10 healthy dogs to remove the epidermis from the dermis in a standardized way. Collection chambers w ere attached to these skin windows and filled with autologous serum to attract exudative neutrophils. The chambers were emptied by fine-need le aspiration at 4-hour intervals and were refilled with serum for 24 hours after the last aspiration. The collected cells were counted, dif ferentiated, and stained, using the trypan blue dye-exclusion method t o determine cell viability. Multiple skin biopsy specimens obtained du ring the procedure were examined histologically. The chamber fluid col lected after 24 hours was cultured for bacteria. Increasing numbers of viable neutrophils were collected during the 24-hour period from the induced skin windows. In all but 1 dog, sufficient viable neutrophils could be collected to perform further functional tests in vitro. Our c onclusion is that this technique might be useful to study chemotaxis i n vivo and to perform functional tests on exudative neutrophils.