Background and purpose. Although the prevalence of pneumonia or other extra-pulmonary infection is higher in people with alcoholism or acute alcohol intoxication, the possible relationship of acute alcohol intoxication to phagocytic function has not been investigated. Our aim was to determine whether acute alcohol intoxication suppress phagocytic function of human neutrophil. Methods Twenty healthy subjects were enrolled for isolating neutrophils to evaluate the neutrophil phagocytic function in different alcohol concentrations. K. pneumoniae was isolated from clinical specimen of liver abscesses. The rate of phagocytosis of K. pneumonia (K2 and non-K1/K2 isolates) by neutrophils was determined using flow cytometry and compared among the nine groups with different alcohol concentration . Results The rate of phagocytic uptake decreased significantly with increasing alcohol concentration both in the K2 and nonK1/K2 K. pneumonia groups (r = –0.866, p = 0.03 vs. r = –0.975, p <0.001). Moreover, the percentage of K. pneumoniae ingested by neutrophils decreased with aging. Conclusions The ability of neutrophils to phagocytose virulent K2 K. pneumoniae can be suppressed by ethanol itself in high concentration. This finding may account for the higher prevalence of pneumonia or other extra-pulmonary infection in people with acute alcohol intoxication.
Date:
2018-02
Relation:
Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection. 2018 Feb;51(1):64-69.
