Fig. 3. Inhibition of the release of proinflammatory cytokines in supernatants of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mononuclear blood cells by perfluorohexane (PFH). Kinetics of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α (A ) and interleukin (IL)-1ß (B ) concentrations in supernatants of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mononuclear blood cells in the presence of 30% perfluorohexane [vol/vol] compared with control samples without perfluorohexane (mean ± SD of three independent experiments). Inhibition of TNFα (C ) and IL-1ß (D ) release in supernatants of mononuclear blood cells after 6 and 24 h of lipopolysaccharide stimulation (10 μg/ml), respectively, in the presence of increasing amounts of perfluorohexane. Results are presented as mean percentage of cytokine content of control supernatants without perfluorohexane (± SD) from 17 independent experiments (paired t test, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.001).