Prostaglandin formation in bacteria

We report here that intact Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, in the presence of exogenous arachidonic acid, produce and release PGE2 and PGF2 alpha into the medium as measured by radioimmunoassay. The seven bacterial strains so far studied release 6.5-50.9 ng PGE2 and less than 0.02-0.51 ng PGF2 alpha per mg bacterial protein during a 1 hour incubation, quantities of the same order of magnitude as those observed in mammalian systems. PGE2 and PGF2 alpha formation in bacteria are inhibited by indomethacin.