Prolactin and insulin regulate the release of IL-1-alpha and IFN-gamma from murine splenocytes activated with porins or LPS of Salmonella typhimurium.

Murine splenocytes treated with prolactin (PRL) or insulin were stimulated in vitro with porins or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Salmonella typhimurium. It was seen that PRL inhibits the release of IFN-gamma from splenocytes treated with porins by about 20% while having no effect on the release of IL-1-alpha. Splenocytes porin-stimulated splenocytes exhibited a remarkable increase in IL-1-alpha release (100%) and a diminished release of IFN-gamma (about 50%) in the presence of insulin. The splenocytes stimulated with LPS had a reduced release of IL-1-alpha (75%) and IFN-gamma (about 50%) when insulin was added. The data suggest that classical endocrine system participates in a bioregulatory feedback loop that may prevent unwanted toxicity from cytokine excess. However, some bacterial products sometimes enormously unbalance this regulatory network.