The biochemical basis of peritoneal cell cytotoxicity for (,'ryptoc~Jccus ne~/brmans was studied by, meast.ring the killing of the yeast by' peritoneal resident cells and peritoneal exudate cells obtained from normal and proteose peptone-rejected animals, respectively. Bolfi cell populations killed ('. ,e~?/brmcm.v to an equivalent extent after 3 h incubation. Exudale cells showed anti-cryptococcal activity from the first hour of" incubation. ~hile no killing was observed with resident cells betk~re 3 h. Both ceil populations triggered a respiratory burst in response to opsonized ('. He~/~Jrmcm,v as indicated by, the fact that killing of the yeast was inhibited by' scavengers of reactive oxygen intermediates {ROD. C. ,eqibrmans susceptibility to H2()~ alld hydroxyl radicals in cell-free systems is demonstrated by, incubating a yeast suspension with different concentrations of H_~O2 and Fenton's reagents, respectively'. These restllts suggest that oxygen metabolites play an active role in ('. ne0/i,mans killing.Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic yeast causing disease predominantly in immunosuppressed patients [21,22]. Since the beginning of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic the frequency of cryptococcosis has increased dramatically and constitutes a significant medical problem because the mechanisms of host defence against C. neoJbrmans are not well understood [6]. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that an adequate cell-mediated immune (CMI) response is critical for effective host defence against cryptococcosis [5,13]. Much research has been directed at determining the specific cell phenotype(s) ultimately responsible for effector cell activity against C. neoformans. Hill [13] has demonstrated that CD4 + T-cells caused multinucleated giant cells to form around C neq/brmans and confine the yeast within the primary site of infection in the respiratory tract, lnterferon-?,-activated rat alveolar macrophages showed anti-cryptococcal activity [21]: human peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with heat-killed C neoJormans in vitro and then challenged with an inoculum of live C. neoformans, killed the encapsulated organism better than unstimulated cells [16]. Natural killer (NK) cells [12] have demonstrable activity against C. neoformans in in vivo murine models. On the other hand, T-suppressor cells have been reported to be induced by C neoformans in rat and murine models [4,19,20,25]. These results suggest that the CMI response to cryptococcal antigen is a complex sequence of events and involves multiple cell populations and soluble factors.Killing of C neoformans has been reported by several authors using different cell populations [61,21], even though the biochemical basis of cytotoxicity for the encapsulated yeast remains obscure. Phagocytes, such as neutrophils and macrophages, undergo an oxidative burst in response to phagocytic or membrane stimuli with the generation and release of a variety of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROD. This 405 Med Mycol Downloaded from informahealthca...