Book Description

Lipoxygenases and Their Products provides a cogent summary of the advances in understanding lipoxygenases and their products, emphasizing their pharmacology and pathophysiology; regulation and structure; physiological role; and receptors and receptor antagonists. This text also reviews the literature where specific receptor antagonists (as opposed to enzymatic inhibitors) have been used to characterize the pharmacologic action and the pathophysiologic roles of some of lipoxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism. This book is organized into 11 chapters and begins with an overview of the biochemical, pharmacological, and pathophysiological aspects of 5-lipoxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism in the respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. The discussion then shifts to human 5-lipoxygenase, emphasizing this enzyme purification, stimulatory factors, and membrane translocation. The reader is methodically introduced to 5-lipoxygenase activity in rats and pigs; the potential and therapeutic value of 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors; the distribution of 15-lipoxygenase in cells or tissues; and products formed through the 15-lipoxygenase pathway. This book also considers lipoxins and third-generation peptidoleukotriene receptor antagonists, and then concludes with a summary of the physiological and pathophysiological effects of leukotrienes and lipoxins in a variety of organs. This book is of interest to scientists interested in arachidonic acid and its metabolites, to scientists engaged in drug discovery-and-development activities in academia and the pharmaceutical industry, and to clinicians interested in diseases associated with leukotrienes and related products.