Increased production of arachidonate metabolites by peritoneal cells of mice infected with Plasmodium vinckei vinckei.

Peritoneal cells from mice infected with Plasmodium vinckei vinckei generate about four times more prostaglandin F and 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha, five times the prostaglandin E and ten times the thromboxane B2 than do peritoneal cells from normal mice. These results were not due to differences in the ratios of cell subpopulations from each group. As well as providing additional evidence that macrophage activation occurs in malaria, the increased production of these prostanoids could help explain some of the manifestations of this disease.