This study investigated the role of prostaglandins (PGs) on the neuronal activity and the transcription of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the brain of conscious immune-challenged rats. Intravenous (i.v.) administration of indomethacin, an inhibitor of PG synthesis, was performed prior to and after the intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of different doses [250 microg, 25 microg, and 2.5 microg/100 g body weight (b.w.)] of the immune activator lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Systemic administration of the high and middle doses of LPS caused a robust and widespread induction of both immediate-early genes (IEGs), c-fos and nerve growth factor-inducible gene B (NGFI-B) mRNAs, whereas injection of the low dose selectively triggered c-fos expression within the sensorial circumventricular organs. Pretreatment with indomethacin did not prevent c-fos transcription in the rat brains challenged with the high dose of LPS at 3 hours postinjection. Inhibition of PG formation was more effective for interruption of the neuronal activation in animals injected with 25 microg LPS/100 g b.w., although the influence depended on the structures and the groups of activated cells. Indeed, PG inhibition significantly altered LPS-induced c-fos mRNA expression in the medial preoptic area/organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, the periventricular nucleus, the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), and the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) but not in many other regions, including the subfornical organ, the central nucleus of the amygdala, the arcuate nucleus/median eminence, the parabrachial nucleus, the choroid plexus, and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). In the hypothalamic PVN, inhibition of both c-fos and NGFI-B transcripts by indomethacin was also associated to an abolished influence of the endotoxin on the transcription of neuroendocrine CRF; induction of CRF primary transcript by the middle dose of LPS was selective to the PVN and was completely blocked by pretreatment with indomethacin. Moreover, a large number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive neurons of the VLM (A1/C1) and the NTS (A2/C2) were positive for c-fos mRNA in immune-challenged rats, an effect that was largely prevented by indomethacin in the VLM but not in the NTS. These results indicate that the role of PGs in mediating the stimulatory influence of the acute-phase response depends on the severity of the systemic stressful situation, the brain regions, and the cell groups as well as the activated target genes.