Non-immune non-activated chicken macrophage destroy murine fibroblast

Non-immune non-activated chicken bone marrow-derived macrophages (BM MØ) killed murine embryonic fibroblasts in vitro. Following precultivation for 10–35 days chicken BM MØ had the capacity to destroy normal murine embryonic fibroblasts at effector: target ratios of 10:1 to 1:1. Optimal killing was observed following cocultivation of MØ and fibroblasts for 48–72 hrs. Addition of LPS neither initiated nor potentiated MØ-mediated killing. This study demonstrates that chicken MØ have the capacity to destroy, in vitro, cells of phylogenetically distant species, similarly to the ability of murine MØ to kill chicken fibroblasts. It is suggested that vertebrate MØ xenolytic potential is analagous to the capacity of invertebrate phagocytes to destroy xenografts.