Fig. 3.

Inhibition of cytokine synthesis by interleukin-10. (a) Adults; (b) Term infants; (c) Preterm infants. Cells were incubated with recombinant IL-10 in whole blood culture one hour before stimulation with LPS. Stimulated cells which were incubated without recombinant IL-10 were set as 100%. There was a dose-related inhibition of cytokine-positive cells in all investigated groups. However, the inhibition of IL-1α-, IL-6-, IL-8- and TNF-α-positive monocytes was significantly lower in term infants and preterm infants compared with adults (n = 6, respectively) using 0·1 ng/ml or 1 ng/ml IL-10 (data are given in result section).