The stability and recovery of six human recombinant cytokines (tumour necrosis factor (TNF), interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), IFN-gamma, interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-1 beta, and IL-6) from whole blood was investigated with a view to optimizing blood collection and storage procedures prior to performing immunoassays. Blood from healthy volunteers was subjected to various processing and storage procedures. Blood samples were treated with either: ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) (1.5 mg/ml blood) (E); EDTA/Trasylol (1.5 mg and 1000 KIU/ml blood) (ET); heparin (30 IU/ml) (H) or allowed to clot (serum). The bloods were spiked with individual cytokines, split into aliquots and kept at 4 degrees C or RT. In the first instance spiked bloods from healthy volunteers (n = 5 per cytokine) were processed using sterile and non-pyrogenic materials and procedures. At regular time intervals, samples were cold spun, separated, flash frozen and assayed for the appropriate cytokine using RIA/IRMA methods. In a further study, timed separation was repeated with spiked blood from healthy volunteers (n = 5 per cytokine) using normal commercially available blood collection materials and procedures. In a third study, spiked blood from healthy volunteers (n = 3 per cytokine) was processed under sterile and non-pyrogenic conditions, and the blood samples separated, aliquoted and flash frozen within half hour of collection. These were then subjected to repeated cycles of freeze thawing at 4 degrees C or RT before assaying. In general, the stability of cytokines in whole blood was improved by storage at 4 degrees C and/or rapid separation. There was no significant difference between samples handled under sterile, non-pyrogenic conditions and those collected using normal blood collection procedures. The blood collection procedures described in this paper did not induce any of the six cytokines in the unspiked blood. Overall, EDTA-treated samples performed most consistently. The addition of trasylol did not significantly affect the results. Most of the cytokines appeared unaffected by up to three freeze thaw cycles. The stability and recovery of the spiked cytokines varied from least stable to most stable spiked cytokine as follows; TNF-alpha less than IL-6 less than IFN-gamma less than IL-1 alpha less than IFN-alpha less than IL-1 beta. The recovery of spiked IFN-gamma from heparinized plasma samples was considerably higher than any other plasma or serum samples. The recovery of spiked TNF-alpha and IL-6 from serum samples was consistently lower than amounts recovered from plasma samples (anticoagulant treated).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)