Network of cytokine and arachidonic acid cascade in acute hepatic failure.

When heat-killed Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) was intravenously injected into mice and 7 days later a small amount of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endotoxin was administered, most of the mice died of massive liver necrosis. In this liver injury model, cytokines, immunomediators, and eicosanoids, inflammatory products, were produced by Kupffer cells and liver-infiltrated macrophages, which were thought to participate, directly or indirectly, in the induction of liver cell damage. Furthermore, these two networks seemed to regulate each other. Thus, this regulatory mechanism might play an important role in the induction of liver cell injury.