Influence of inhibitors of protein synthesis on interferon formation in mice: II. Comparison of effects of glutarimide antibiotics and tenuazonic acid

Abstract

Additional information has been obtained about the different patterns of interferon synthesis or release in mice injected with virus or bacterial endotoxin. Blockade of protein synthesis at different times after injection of Newcastle disease virus effectively halted further increase of circulating interferon. Data obtained by this method showed that interferon synthesis induced by virus is continuous for at least 10–12 hours. In the case of endotoxin, an enhanced and prolonged release of interferon was seen when blockade of protein synthesis was produced up to 30 min after the injection of endotoxin. By 1 or 2 hours after the injection of endotoxin, no significant enhancement of interferon release was effected by blockade of protein synthesis, indicating that the critical events involved in the release of preformed interferon by endotoxin occur within 30 min after the stimulus is injected. When a synthetic double-stranded polynucleotide, poly rI:rC, was used as the stimulus instead of endotoxin, the temporal relationship between blockade of protein synthesis and enhancement of interferon release in mice was similar. The effects of blockade of protein synthesis in mice described above were obtained using a series of glutarimide antibiotics (cycloheximide, acetoxycycloheximide, streptovitacin A, streptimidone) as well as tenuazonic acid, a chemically unrelated antibiotic.