The prostaglandin (PG) content of mitogen- and antigen-stimulated leukocyte cultures was examined by a radioimmunoassay procedure empolying an antiserum reactive with PGB(1) and PGB(2), the alkaline dehydration products of PGE and PGA. At 48 h, mitogen-activated mouse spleen cell cultures showed 2-10-fold increases in the PGE, but not in the PGA, component of immunoreactive PG (iPG) fractionated by silicic acid column chromatography. Increases in iPG were detectable by h 16 in spleen cell cultures incubated with staphylococcal enterotoxin B. Since iPG levels rose only in the culture supernates and not in cells exposed to mitogens for 48 h, increases reflected extracellular release of PG. The validity of the radioimmunoassay determinations of PGE in spleen cell cultures was supported by the results of concomitant assessment of the PGE(2) content of basal and enterotoxin-stimulated cultures by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. By the latter method, the PGE(2) content was three-fold higher in enterotoxin-activated, compared to basal, cultures at 48 h. Aspirin effectively suppressed increases in both iPG and PGE(2). In spleen cell cultures prepared from mice previously inoculated with an attenuated strain of yellow fever virus in vivo and then incubated with this virus in vitro, iPG levels increased twofold over basal at 48 h. By contrast, iPG content of spleen cell cultures prepared from saline-inoculated mice was not appreciably altered by exposure to the virus in vitro. The enhancement of iPG release from cultured spleen cells by mitogens did not correlate with an ability of these agents to increase cellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels. Moreover, epinephrine and cholera toxin markedly increased spleen cell cAMP content but had no demonstrable effect on basal iPG levels, suggesting iPG release from these cells was not mediated by cAMP. Incubation with mitogens also enhanced the iPG content of 72-cultures of human peripheral leukocytes and of human lymphocytes isolated by nylon chromatography. However, the iPG of cultures of human lymphocytes purified by glass bead chromatography and of mouse thymocytes was not appreciably altered when these cells were cultured with mitogens, even though DNA synthesis in both instances was markedly increased. Accordingly, iPG release was not an invariable concomitant of increased DNA synthesis in lymphoid cell cultures. In summary, the results demonstrate that mitogen and antigen stimulation of leukocytes in culture may be accompanied by enhanced release of PGE. The mechanisms mediating this phenomenon and its biologic significance remain to be delineated, but participation of PGE in immunologically induced inflammatory responses seems possible.