Prostaglandin E2 elevation of cyclic-AMP in granuloma macrophages at various stages of inflammation: relevance to anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory functions

In the carrageenin-induced granuloma of rats the inflammatory tissue growth and macrophage invasion on the one hand and the cyclic-AMP content of the macrophages on the other, display opposite directional changes. Macrophages, isolated from this tissue at different stages of inflammation, were used to examine the effect of prostaglandin E2 on intracellular levels of c-AMP. It appears that during infiltration of the macrophages into the inflammatory tissue, the sensitivity of adenylate cyclase to activation by PGE2 increases. Arguments are presented that these observations made in vitro, are in direct relevance to the previous described anti-inflammatory effect of PGE on granuloma tissue in vivo.