What is the arachidonic pathway?

The arachidonic acid (AA) pathway plays a key role in cardiovascular biology, carcinogenesis, and many inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, arthritis, etc.

How is Arachidon released?

Arachidonic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid covalently bound in esterified form in the cell membranes of most body cells. Following irritation or injury, arachidonic acid is released and oxygenated by enzyme systems leading to the formation of an important group of inflammatory mediators, the eicosanoids.

How is arachidonic acid used?

Arachidonic acid is important because the human body uses it as a starting material in the synthesis of two kinds of essential substances, the prostaglandins and the leukotrienes, both of which are also unsaturated carboxylic acids.

How many carbons are in arachidonic acid?

20 carbon atoms
Arachidonic Acid (ARA) is a Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (LCPUFA) with 20 carbon atoms and four double bonds.

What does arachidonic acid make?

The arachidonic acid is then rapidly converted into active metabolites by cyclooxygenases to produce prostaglandins, prostacyclin and thromboxanes, and by lipoxygenase to produce leukotrienes Page et al (2006). The physiological actions of these metabolites have widespread and diverse.

Does COX-1 make prostaglandins?

The cyclooxygenase isoenzymes, COX-1 and COX-2, catalyze the formation of prostaglandins, thromboxane, and levuloglandins. COX enzymes are clinically important because they are inhibited by aspirin and numerous other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

What can we learn from cloned lipoxygenase enzymes?

Cloning of many lipoxygenases and other key enzymes within the lipoxygenase pathway, as well as analyses by reverse genetic and metabolic profiling, revealed new reactions and the first hints of enzyme mechanisms, multiple functions, and regulation.

What is the lipoxygenase pathway?

The lipoxygenase pathway Lipid peroxidation is common to all biological systems, both appearing in developmentally and environmentally regulated processes of plants. The hydroperoxy polyunsaturated fatty acids, synthesized by the action of various highly specialized forms of lipoxygenases, are substrates of at least seven d …

What is the reaction catalyzed by lipoxygenases?

Most of the lipoxygenases (exception, ALOXE3) catalyze the reaction Polyunsaturated fatty acid + O2 → fatty acid hydroperoxide in four steps:

Is lipoxygenase an oxidoreductase?

Lipoxygenase (LOX, EC 1.13.11.12) is an oxidoreductase, a type of non-heme iron-containing protein that specifically catalyzes polyunsaturated fatty acids with a cis,cis-1,4-pentadiene, producing a hydrogen peroxide derivative having a conjugated double bond by intramolecular oxygenation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKZuVu48_VI