EFFECT OF THIOGLYCOLATE AND BCG STIMULI ON GLUCOSE AND GLUTAMINE-METABOLISM IN RAT MACROPHAGES

The macrophage is a differentiated cell that takes part in a wide rang e of physiological and pathological processes, such as inflammatory an d immunological responses. The stimulation of macrophages involves the acquisition of some functional characteristics such as phagocytosis, ability to hill tumor cells, and processing and presentation of antige ns. In this study we have investigated the changes in macrophage gluco se and glutamine metabolism as induced by stimulation by thioglycollat e (inflammatory) and bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) (activated). The re sults showed an increase in hexokinase and citrate synthase activities , due to both stimulatory processes. One difference between inflammato ry and activated cells is the higher rate of glucose oxidation in the latter. The activation with BCG, however, also led to an enhancement i n glutamine metabolism that is not observed in the inflammatory cell. These results suggest that glutamine metabolism might be important for macrophage function during immunological response.