1 The prostanoid receptor(s) that mediates inhibition of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tumour necrosis factor-a (TNFa) generation from human peripheral blood monocytes was classi®ed by use of naturally occurring and synthetic prostanoid agonists and antagonists. 2 In human monocytes that were adherent to plastic, neither prostaglandin D 2 (PGD 2 ), prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ), prostaglandin F 2a (PGF 2a ) nor the stable prostacyclin and thromboxane mimetics, cicaprost and U-46619, respectively, promoted the elaboration of TNFa-like immunoreactivity, as assessed with a speci®c ELISA, indicating the absence of excitatory prostanoid receptors on these cells. 3 Exposure of human monocytes to LPS (3 ng ml 71 , * EC 84 ) resulted in a time-dependent elaboration of TNFa which was suppressed in cells pretreated with prostaglandin E 1 (PGE 1 ), PGE 2 and cicaprost. This e ect was concentration-dependent with mean pIC 50 values of 7.14, 7.34 and 8.00 for PGE 1 , PGE 2 and cicaprost, respectively. PGD 2 , PGF 2a and U-46619 failed to inhibit the generation of TNFa at concentrations up to 10 mM. 4 With respect to PGE 2 , the EP-receptor agonists, 16,16-dimethyl PGE 2 (non-selective), misoprostol (EP 2 /EP 3 -selective), 11-deoxy PGE 1 (EP 2 -selective) and butaprost (EP 2 -selective) were essentially full agonists as inhibitors of LPS-induced TNFa generation with mean pIC 50 values of 6.21, 6.02, 5.67 and 5.59, respectively. In contrast to the results obtained with butaprost and 11-deoxy PGE 1 , another EP 2 -selective agonist, AH 13205, inhibited TNFa generation by only 21% at the highest concentration (10 mM) examined. EP-receptor agonists which have selectivity for the EP 1 -(17-phenyl-o-trinor PGE 2 ) and EP 3 -receptor (MB 28,767, sulprostone) were inactive or only weakly active as inhibitors of TNFa generation. 5 Pretreatment of human monocytes with the TP/EP 4 -receptor antagonist, AH 23848B, at 10, 30 and 100 mM suppressed LPS-induced TNFa generation by 10%, 28% and 77%, respectively, but failed to shift signi®cantly the location of the PGE 2 concentration-response curves. 6 Given that AH 13205 was a poor inhibitor of TNFa generation, studies were performed to determine if it was a partial agonist and whether it could antagonize the inhibitory e ect of PGE 2 . Pretreatment of human monocytes with 10 and 30 mM AH 13205 inhibited the generation of TNFa by 31% and 53%, respectively, but failed to shift signi®cantly the location of the PGE 2 concentration-response curves at either concentration examined. 7 Since PGD 2 and 17-phenyl-o-trinor PGE 2 (EP 1 -agonist) did not suppress TNFa generation, the EP 1 / EP 2 /DP-receptor antagonist, AH 6809, was employed to assess if EP 2 -receptors mediated the inhibitory e ect of PGE 2 . Pretreatment of human monocytes with 10 mM AH 6809 did not a ect LPS-induced TNFa generation but produced a parallel 3.5 fold rightwards shift of the PGE 2 concentration-response curve. 8 Collectively, these data suggest that human peripheral blood monocytes express at least two distin...