Vasoactive amines directly modify endothelial cells to affect polymorphonuclear leukocyte diapedesis in vitro.

Bovine aortic endothelial cells were cultured on the basement membrane surface of amnionic membrane and used as a substrate for polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) diapedesis in vitro. Norepinephrine (NE), serotonin (5HT), or phalloidin treatment of the endothelial cells (ECs) reduces, whereas histamine or cytochalasin B increases, the number of PMNs migrating across the ECs and amnionic membrane. In contrast, amine treatment of PMNs or acellular amnionic membrane does not alter PMN diapedesis or chemotaxis. The NE and histamine effects are blocked by appropriate receptor antagonists, but the 5HT effect is not. All the agents' effects are also reversible. Qualitatively similar effects on EC permeability to Evan's blue-labeled albumin occur with all agents; however, PMN adhesion to ECs is not affected. Previously, we reported that NE and 5HT increase stress fiber numbers and decrease EC permeability to macromolecules in vitro, whereas histamine has the opposite effects, and that NE and 5HT eliminate the erythrocyte extravasation associated with thrombocytopenia in vivo. In this study, we propose that these vasoactive amines also alter PMN diapedesis in vitro through a direct effect on the EC, in part due to alterations in the EC cytoskeleton.