Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein (LBP) has been reported to be an acute-phase protein. LBP binds to LPS with a high affinity; LPS-LBP complexes then interact with the receptor CD14, resulting in increased expression of LPS-inducible genes. Hepatocytes represent a major source of LBP, but little is known about the regulation of rodent hepatocyte LBP synthesis. In these studies, undertaken to characterize hepatocyte LBP expression, we show that greater-than-20-fold increases in LBP mRNA levels in hepatocytes occurred following injection of LPS or turpentine in rats. In primary cultures of rat hepatocytes, the addition of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and LPS led to 4.5- and 3.2-fold stimulation in LBP mRNA levels, respectively. The induction of LBP by IL-6 or LPS was attenuated by dexamethasone. In contrast to IL-6 and LPS, in the presence of 10(-6) M dexamethasone, IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) led to maximal LBP mRNA induction levels, 4.7- and 3.8-fold, respectively, suggesting that IL-6 and LPS stimulate LBP expression by mechanisms different from those of IL-1 and TNF. Similar induction levels of LBP mRNA were seen in rat H35 hepatoma cells for all four stimuli, and dexamethasone inhibited these responses. Dexamethasone alone increased the spontaneous induction in primary hepatocytes at early time points but suppressed induction at later time points. Furthermore, hepatocytes from rats treated with LPS in vivo exhibited a > 10-fold increase in mRNA expression in response to LPS and enhanced responses to TNF and IL-1. As with the normal hepatocytes, dexamethasone inhibited the LPS-dependent induction in the LPS-treated rat hepatocytes. These data suggest that LBP synthesis by hepatocytes is under the control of LPS, IL-1, TNF, IL-6, and glucocorticoids and that the LPS treatment primes hepatocytes for subsequent responses to LPS, TNF, and IL-1 for LBP synthesis.