Fluorescein-labelled plastic microbeads, with or without covalently attached beta-1,3-D-glucan, were injected into the peritoneal cavity of mice. Peritoneal cells were subsequently analysed by flow cytometry according to fluorescence and light scatter and separated into fluorescence positive and negative cells. We report that cells from animals treated with glucan-plastic beads produced large amounts of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) whether the cells actually contained beads or not. On the other hand, cells from animals treated with glucan-plastic beads produced less thymocyte-stimulatory activity--presumably corresponding to interleukin 1 (IL-1)--than cells from control animals treated with commercial latex beads. However, when indomethacin was added, either in vivo or in vitro, cells from animals treated with glucan-plastic beads produced more thymocyte-stimulatory activity than controls. We interpret this to mean that glucan-plastic beads stimulate both IL-1 and PGE2, but that under circumstances where the cellular cyclo-oxygenase is not inhibited, the PGE2 will block IL-1 production.