Previously, we showed that macrophages (MØ) from old mice have significantly higher levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) production than young mice, due to increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA levels. The aim of the current study was to determine the underlying mechanisms of ageassociated increase in COX-2 gene expression. The results demonstrate that increased COX-2 mRNA expression in the old mice is due to a higher rate of transcription rather than increased stability of COX-2 mRNA. Furthermore, the results show that LPS-induced ceramide levels from the old mice are significantly higher than those of young mice, whereas there is no age-related difference in concentration of its down stream metabolite, sphingosine. The addition of ceramide in the presence or absence of LPS resulted in a significant increase in PGE 2 production in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Inhibition of ceramide conversion to sphingosine had no effect on this ceramide-induced effect. The ceramide-induced up-regulation in PGE 2 production was mediated through increase in COX activity and transcriptional up-regulation of COX-2 mRNA. Collectively, these data suggest that the ageassociated increase in MØ COX-2 mRNA is due to transcriptional up-regulation. Furthermore, this increase in transcription is mediated by higher cellular ceramide concentration in old MØ compared with that of young MØ.Accumulating evidence indicates that T cell-mediated immune responses decline with aging (1-6). We, as well as others, have demonstrated that, in addition to intrinsic changes in T cells, increased macrophage (MØ) 1 -derived prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) production contributes to the age-associated decline in T cell function (7). We further showed that the age-related increase in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced MØ PGE 2 production is due to increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA and protein levels, leading to increased COX enzyme activity (8). PGE 2 is synthesized from the precursor arachidonic acid by the two cyclooxygenase isoenzymes: cyclooxygenase 1 (COX-1), which is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme, and COX-2, which has a low basal expression but is rapidly induced by inflammatory stimuli such as LPS. Ceramide, a sphingolipid second messenger, generated from hydrolysis of membrane sphingomyelin by sphingomyelinase (SMase) or by de novo synthesis (9) has been shown to be involved in multiple signaling pathways, resulting in proliferation (10, 11), differentiation (12), and apoptosis (13-16). In murine MØ, cell-permeable analogues of ceramide (C 2 -or C 6 -ceramide) and SMase have been shown to mimic LPS action (17). Furthermore, ceramide increases expression of LPS-inducible genes in MØ from LPS-responsive, but not LPS-hyporesponsive mice (18). In several studies, LPS injection (19 -21) as well as treatment of cultured cells with LPS (22) resulted in increased intracellular ceramide generation.Exogenously added membrane-permeable analogues of ceramide (C 2 -and C 6 -ceramide) as well as bacterial SMase augmented IL-1...