Kinetics of tumour necrosis factor and prostaglandin production by murine resident peritoneal macrophages as affected by dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Cell-associated and secreted tumour necrosis factor (TNF), prostaglandin (PG) E2, and 6-keto PGF1 alpha were monitored at various times following in vitro stimulation of resident peritoneal macrophages with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Macrophages were obtained from mice maintained on diets containing 1.5 wt% n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)+ 1.5 wt% n-6 fatty acids; 1.5 wt% n-6 fatty acids; or 3 wt% n-6 fatty acids, for 4 weeks. Cell-associated TNF increased transiently in the resident peritoneal macrophages from mice consuming all diets and decreased after TNF secretion had reached maximum and plateaued. Macrophages from mice consuming the n-3 PUFA contained more cell-associated TNF and secreted more TNF than macrophages from mice consuming diets containing n-6 fatty acids only, at all time-points studied. Macrophages from mice consuming the n-3 PUFA showed an earlier increase in cell-associated and secreted TNF compared with macrophages from mice consuming n-6 fatty acids only. Kinetics of maximum TNF production was not affected by the diets and dietary n-3 PUFA did not cause a prolonged increase in TNF secretion. Macrophages from mice consuming the n-3 PUFA produced less PG than macrophages from mice consuming the n-6 fatty acids only. PG secretion increased following appearance of cell-associated TNF but when PG had accumulated in the medium there was no further increase in TNF production.