Spontaneous and Induced Membrane Hyperpolarizations in Macrophages.

摘要

Macrophages exhibit a variety of physiological activities which render them uniquely suitable to play a central role in both inflammatory and immunological phenomena. The mechanisms by which macrophages regulate such diverse biologic functions as endocytosis, motility, secretion and antigen presentation to lymphocytes remain unclear. The possibility that electrical phenomena of the macrophage membrane may be involved in the initiation or control of these activities led to this attempt to characterize the electrophysiological properties of these cells. The studies reported here describe some unusual electrical properties of the macrophage cell membrane which may have relevance to some of its specialized functional behavior.