Impact of heparinase-induced cleavage on AT III effects in neutrophils.

Heparinase-treated (50 minutes) or -untreated neutrophils migrated for 30 minutes to AT III at various concentrations. Chemotaxis induced by fMLP or IL-8 served as positive controls (left). In deactivation experiments, heparinase-treated or -untreated neutrophils were exposed to AT III for 20 minutes; thereafter, migration to medium or IL-8 was run (right). The chemotaxis index is the ratio between the distances of directed and undirected migration of neutrophils. Means of chemotaxis indices were compared by Mann-Whitney test after Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (P < .001). *P < .05; **P < .01. ns, not significant; n = 8.