Effect of propranolol on arachidonic acid metabolism by cells in culture

Propranolol stimulated prostaglandin synthesis in dog kidney, mouse adrenal, rat basophil leukemia, and mouse neuroblastoma cells, but not in bovine aorta smooth muscle or rat glial cells growing in culture. Culture fluids of propranolol treated rat basophil leukemia (RBL-1) cells reacted with anti-12-HETE plasma. The reactive HETE was not identified, although it was not 12-HETE. Indomethacin and aspirin, in the presence of stimulating levels of propranolol, inhibited the stimulated synthesis of the cyclooxygenase products but not the lipoxygenase products by the RBL-1 cells. Quinidine also stimulated prostaglandin synthesis in dog kidney and rat basophil leukemia cells, but not in mouse neuroblastoma, mouse adrenal, bovine aorta smooth muscle, rat glial, and rat pituitary cells and methylcholanthrene transformed mouse fibroblasts. Whereas quinine stimulated prostaglandin synthesis in the rat basophil leukemia cells, unlike quinidine it did not stimulate prostaglandin synthesis in the dog kidney cells.