Preliminary studies on the induction of a 120 000 molecular weight protein in resident peritoneal macrophages by arachidonic acid.

Exogenous arachidonic acid induced the synthesis of a 120 000 molecular weight protein in resident peritoneal macrophages. The induction of this protein is specific to the presence of arachidonic acid in the culture medium and is not induced by the presence of other fatty acids, irrespective of their chain length or degree of unsaturation. The protein induced is not a secretory protein and is not formed as a result of the processing of preexisting proteins in macrophages. In addition to arachidonic acid, prostaglandin E2 also induced the synthesis of 120 000 molecular weight protein in macrophages.