Resting macrophages produce distinct metabolites from exogenous arachidonic acid

Abstract
Resident mouse peritoneal macrophages rapidly metabolize free arachidonic acid (20:4) in the absence of a discernible trigger. After a 20-min incubation in serumless medium, one-third of the fatty acid was found esterified in cell phospholipid and two-thirds was metabolized to oxygenated products which were recovered in the culture medium.