Release of Prostaglandin by Mitogen- and Antigen-Stimulated Leukocytes in Culture

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Abstract

The prostaglandin (PG) content of mitogen- and antigen-stimulated leukocyte cultures was examined by a radioimmunoassay procedure empolying an antiserum reactive with PGB1 and PGB2, the alkaline dehydration products of PGE and PGA. At 48 h, mitogen-activated mouse spleen cell cultures showed 2-10-fold increases in the PGE, but not in the PGA, component of immunoreactive PG (iPG) fractionated by silicic acid column chromatography. Increases in iPG were detectable by h 16 in spleen cell cultures incubated with staphylococcal enterotoxin B. Since iPG levels rose only in the culture supernates and not in cells exposed to mitogens for 48 h, increases reflected extracellular release of PG. The validity of the radioimmunoassay determinations of PGE in spleen cell cultures was supported by the results of concomitant assessment of the PGE2 content of basal and enterotoxin-stimulated cultures by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. By the latter method, the PGE2 content was three-fold higher in enterotoxin-activated, compared to basal, cultures at 48 h. Aspirin effectively suppressed increases in both iPG and PGE2. In spleen cell cultures prepared from mice previously inoculated with an attenuated strain of yellow fever virus in vivo and then incubated with this virus in vitro, iPG levels increased twofold over basal at 48 h. By contrast, iPG content of spleen cell cultures prepared from saline-inoculated mice was not appreciably altered by exposure to the virus in vitro.

Authors

Victor A. Ferraris, Frederick R. DeRubertis, Thomas H. Hudson, Leon Wolfe