Factors Mediating Lipopolysaccharide-lnduced Ganglioside Expression in Murine

The ganglioside composition of endotoxin-responsive C3H/HeN murine peritoneal mac-rophages is known to undergo dramatic changes in vivo in response to intraperitoneal Iipopolysaccharides (LPS), unlike endotoxin-hyporesponsive C3H/HeJ macrophages. To better investigate the mechanism behind LPS-induced macrophage ganglioside changes, resident C3H/HeN peritoneal macrophages were treated in vitro with 0.1-1.0 .tg/ml LPS for 6-96 hr, but showed no differences in membrane ganglioside patterns. Coincubation of macrophages with lymphocytes and treating with LPS again elicited no ganglioside changes. In contrast, Interferon ‘y (IFN-y)-primed macrophages showed a dramatic shift In Intensity of one ganglioside when treated with LPS in vitro; an additional macrophage ganglioside appeared when IFN--y-prlmed, LPS-treated macrophages were coincubated with lymphocytes. Ganglioside expression induced in vitro still did not approach the complex changes seen in vivo. However, transplanting C3H/HeN macrophages intraperi-toneally into C3H/HeJ mice, followed by administration of intraperitoneal LPS, did reveal striking changes in ganglioside expression that resembled the pattern seen in vivo. Thus, LPS alone does not provide the necessary direct signal to promote macrophage ganglioside change even though it alters macrophage function. lFN-y appears to be one important mediator; however, complex interactions involving other cytokines or migra-tion of independent populations of mononuclear cells may be required for the full manifestation of LPS-induced ganglioside expression in macrophages. Key words: endotoxin, cytokines, interferon-