Production of cytokines induced by endotoxin prepared from Prevotella melaninogenica

Objective To explore the cyto immunological effect of endotoxin prepared from P. melaninogenicus (P.m ) ATCC25845 on the production of interlukin 1 (IL 1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), colony stimulating factor (CSF) and Shwartzman preparatory Dose 50 (SPD 50 ) both in cell cultures and mice. Methods Kramer's method, soft agar cell culture and thymocyte proliferation were applied for testing the effects . Results The results demonstrated that IL 1 could be produced at dose 1.0ng of endotoxin. And the levels of IL 1 were correlated with the doses of endotoxin. The endotoxin could also induce production of sera TNF at a dose of 1.0μg in mice. TNF could be found in sera of mice after endotoxin injection one hour later and disappeared within six hours. The results still revealed that the endotoxin of P. m had an inducing activity on macrophages of mice in production CSF at a dose 0.1μg and was dose dependent. The SPD 50 of P.m endotoxin was 64μg in local Shwartzman reaction. Conclusion These results demonstrate that the inducing activities of P.m endotoxin on cytokines may be important for its pathogenesis in clinical infection.