Bacterial lipopolysaccharide induces release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha from bovine peripheral blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages in vitro.

In this study, we demonstrate that freshly adherent bovine monocytes release tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in response to stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). TNF-alpha was detected using actinomycin D-treated WEHI-164 murine fibrosarcoma cells as targets in an 18 hr cytotoxicity assay. Doses of LPS from 20 ng/ml to 20 micrograms/ml were capable of inducing bovine TNF-alpha. The kinetics of TNF-alpha release from bovine monocytes demonstrated peak levels of cytotoxic activity at 1-3 hr post-LPS treatment, with a subsequent decline to background levels by 18 hr post-LPS treatment. A monoclonal antibody that neutralizes recombinant human TNF-alpha (rHuTNF-alpha) significantly reduced the cytotoxicity of LPS-stimulated bovine monocyte culture supernatants. Size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of LPS-stimulated monocyte and alveolar macrophage culture supernatants resulted in a molecular weight elution profile similar to that of recombinant human TNF-alpha. These elution profiles are consistent with the presence of multimers of TNF-alpha. This is believed to be the first report of the in vitro production of bovine TNF-alpha.