ULTRALOW CONCENTRATIONS OF IBUPROFEN ACTIVATE CELL PROSTAGLANDIN SYNTHESIS

The interest in the prostaglandin (PG) synthesis by animal cells today grows steadily because of the difficulties in obtaining them by any o ther way. Murine peritoneal macrophages can under certain conditions s ynthesize large amounts of PGs. The effect of well-known nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen on PG synthesis by the cells using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection of 4-bromomethyl-7-methoxy-coumarin (BrMMC) derivatives was studied. In our case, the main metabolites were PGE(2) and PGF(2a). T he PG synthesis activation effect was shown by ibuprofen concentration s in the 10(-10)-10(-14)M range with the maximum effect at the 10(-12) M. In this case, the ibuprofen effect was comparable in value with the effect of the well-known cell PG synthesis activator-calcium ionophor e A(23187). Although the exact mechanism of such an effect is not clea r at the moment, at low concentration, ibuprofen itself is able to act iviate PG synthesis in murine peritoneal macrophages.