Functional relationship of the cytochrome b to the superoxide-generating oxidase of human neutrophils.

A subcellular particulate fraction containing the NADPH-dependent O2.--generating oxidase from stimulated human neutrophils was prepared. This fraction was depleted of certain enzyme markers of primary and secondary granules and was devoid of measurable myeloperoxidase, both enzymatically and spectrally. When prepared from neutrophils which had been previously stimulated with phorbal myristate acetate, this fraction contained cyanide-insensitive, pyridine nucleotide-dependent O2.--generating activity with a specific activity of 260 nmol min-1 mg-1. O2.--generating activity is completely ablated by p-chloromercuribenzoate exposure. Preparations from normal unstimulated neutrophils or stimulated neutrophils from a male patient with chronic granulomatous disease had negligible amounts of this O2.--generating enzymatic activity. The dominant chromophore in this preparation was a b-type cytochrome, the spectral and functional characteristics of which are further described herein. Pyridine nucleotide-dependent reduction of the intrinsic cytochrome b closely parallels O2.- generation in this preparation. Specifically, reduction occurs in preparations from phorbal myristate acetate-stimulated neutrophils and is absent in unstimulated or stimulated p-chloromercuribenzoate-inactivated preparations.