Macrophage cell line RAW264.7 but not P-388D1 is an appropriate in vitro-model for studying oxidative burst as well as cytokine production in context of fatty acid enrichment

Oxidative burst and cytokines synthesis by macrophages is a crucial point for successful pathogen defense. However, macrophage cell lines commonly used in inflammatory research differ in their responses to external stimuli. Thus, there is the necessity to carefully characterize the cells before experimental usage. In this study we investigated the applicability of two widely-used macrophage cell lines, RAW264.7 and P-388D1, for studying oxidative burst and cytokine synthesis. Cells were tested for NADPH oxidase activity, iNOS-mRNA levels, and the release of NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10. Stimulation of RAW264.7 triggered oxidative burst as well as synthesis of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10. In contrast, following stimulation P-388D1 produced TNF-α and IL-6 only. Our findings confirm the relevance of cell line selection for reliability of in vitro-experiments. Moreover, the results approve RAW264.7 cells to be a suitable model to investigate the modulation capability of macrophages e.g. in context of fatty acid supplementation.