Hydrocortisone inhibits prostaglandin production by mouse fibrosarcoma cells

Abstract

A VARIETY of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs are potent inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis¹. In fact, many of the clinically important anti-inflammatory actions of agents such as aspirin and indomethacin have been attributed to inhibition of prostaglandin synthetase². Corticosteroids with anti-inflammatory activity, however, have not been regularly shown to be prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors^1,3,4 although reports of small degrees of inhibition have been made in broken cell preparations using very high concentrations (2.2 × 10⁻⁴–4.4 × 10⁻⁴ M) of fluocinolone^5,6 or hydrocortisone⁶. Lewis and Piper have suggested, largely on the basis of indirect data, that some of the actions of corticosteroids in inflammation result from inhibition of the release, but not the synthesis, of prostaglandins⁷. We report here that hydrocortisone is a potent inhibitor of prostaglandin formation by a clonal strain of prostaglandin-producing cells in culture, and that the effect is not the result of an action on the prostaglandin release or transport mechanisms.