The effect of prostaglandin metabolism on immunoglobulin and antibody production in naive and educated whole spleen cells

Addition of prostaglandin E2 or inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis to Mischell-Dutton cultures results in changes of immunoglobulin levels, particularly IgM, secreted into the culture supernatant. These changes in the quantity of immunoglobulin found in the supernatant are minimal in cultures containing naive cells. When BSA educated cells from C57B1/6 immunized mice were cultured, PGE was very effective in amplifying the biosynthesis of immunoglobulin when placed in culture in the presence of BSA. Whole spleen cell cultures from C57B1/6 mice immunized with sRBC also had increased immunoglobulin concentrations in culture supernatants upon exposure to PGE2 at culture initiation. However, the addition of sRBC to these cultures did not further increase immunoglobulin production. In all cases indomethacin inhibited the appearance of immunoglobulin into the supernatant by antigen educated cells. This inhibition which may be a result of inhibited immunoglobulin synthesis and not an impairment of transport, could be overcome by the inclusion of PGE2 in the cultures. PGE2 added to cultures containing cells educated against human gamma globulin caused an increase in the quantity of human gamma globulin-specific antibody in the culture supernatant while it had no effect on naive cells. These results indicate that prostaglandin metabolism may exert a greater influence on educated lymphocytes than naive lymphocytes in terms of immunoglobulin secretion and specific antibody production.