West (5) investigated the production of cytokines in peritoneal macrophages incubated in carbon dioxide. Macrophage TNF and IL-1 responses to bacterial endotoxin were lower for macrophages incubated in carbon dioxide than in either air or helium. A proposed mechanism for this difference was that carbon dioxide affected the intracellular medium by creating a more acidic environment. He speculates that the impairment in peritoneal macrophage cytokine production may contribute to an apparent lack of inflammatory systemic response during laparoscopic surgery rather than the physiologic stress of the surgery itself. This provides a potential molecular mechanism to explain peritoneal macrophage immunosuppression.