Effect of alcohols on arachidonic acid metabolism in murine mastocytoma cells and human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

The effects of alcohols on the formation of leukotrienes, 5-HETE and prostaglandin D2 in mastocytoma cells and human neutrophils were studied. In murine mastocytoma cells, alcohols appear to have at least two different effects on the production of these arachidonic acid metabolites. At low levels of cellular arachidonic acid achieved after stimulation with calcium ionophore A23187 or addition of low levels of exogenous arachidonic acid, alcohols appear to have a general inhibitory effect on the production of lipoxygenase metabolites. In the presence of higher concentrations of cellular arachidonic acid, ethanol and methanol stimulated the production of lipoxygenase metabolites, but had no large stimulatory effect on the cyclo-oxygenase metabolite, prostaglandin D2. Under these conditions, n-propanol and t-butanol have inhibitory effects on leukotriene production. Human neutrophils are less sensitive to ethanol than mastocytoma cells, but stimulatory effects were still found at high ethanol concentrations (220-430 mM).