Na⁺/H⁺ exchange modulates the production of leukotriene B₄ by human neutrophils

Human neutrophils produce various compounds of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway, including (5S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, leukotriene B₄, its 6-trans isomers and ω-oxidation metabolites of LTB₄, when the cells are stimulated with the Ca²⁺ ionophore A23187. The elevation in the extracellular pH (pH(o)) facilitated the cytoplasmic alkalinization induced by the ionophore as determined fluorometrically using 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)carboxyfluorescein and enhanced the production of all the 5-lipoxygenase metabolites. The production decreased when the alkalinization was blocked by the decrease in the PH(o), the removal of the extracellular Na⁺ or the addition of specific inhibitors of the Na⁺/H⁺ exchange, such as 5-(NN-hexamethylene)amiloride, 5-(N-methyl-N-isobutyl)amiloride and 5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl)amiloride. The alkalinization of the cytoplasm with methylamine completely restored the production suppressed by the removal of Na⁺ from the medium. These findings suggest that the change in the cytoplasmic pH (pH(i)) mediated by the Na⁺/H⁺ exchange regulates the production of the lipoxygenase metabolites. The site of the metabolism controlled by the pH(i) change seemed to be the 5-lipoxygenase, because the production of all the metabolites decreased in parallel and the release of [³H]arachidonic acid from the netrophils in response to the ionophore was not affected by the pH(i) change. Furthermore, the production of the 5-lipoxygenase metabolites stimulated by A23187 with or without exogenous arachidonic acid showed a similar pH(o)-dependence and the production induced by N-formylmethionyl-leucylphenylalanine (chemotactic peptide) with exogenous arachidonic acid also decreased when the cytoplasmic alkalinization was inhibited.