Arachidonic acid metabolism (Homo sapiens)
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Description
Eicosanoids, oxygenated, 20-carbon fatty acids, are autocrine and paracrine signaling molecules that modulate physiological processes including pain, fever, inflammation, blood clot formation, smooth muscle contraction and relaxation, and the release of gastric acid. Eicosanoids are synthesized in humans primarily from arachidonic acid (all-cis 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid) that is released from membrane phospholipids. Once released, arachidonic acid is acted on by prostaglandin G/H synthases (PTGS, also known as cyclooxygenases (COX)) to form prostaglandins and thromboxanes, by arachidonate lipoxygenases (ALOX) to form leukotrienes, epoxygenases (cytochrome P450s and epoxide hydrolase) to form epoxides such as 15-eicosatetraenoic acids, and omega-hydrolases (cytochrome P450s) to form hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (Buczynski et al. 2009, Vance & Vance 2008).
Levels of free arachidonic acid in the cell are normally very low so the rate of synthesis of eicosanoids is determined primarily by the activity of phospholipase A2, which mediates phospholipid cleavage to generate free arachidonic acid. The enzymes involved in arachidonic acid metabolism are typically constitutively expressed so the subset of these enzymes expressed by a cell determines the range of eicosanoids it can synthesize.
Eicosanoids are unstable, undergoing conversion to inactive forms with half-times under physiological conditions of seconds or minutes. Many of these reactions appear to be spontaneous. View original pathway at Reactome.
Levels of free arachidonic acid in the cell are normally very low so the rate of synthesis of eicosanoids is determined primarily by the activity of phospholipase A2, which mediates phospholipid cleavage to generate free arachidonic acid. The enzymes involved in arachidonic acid metabolism are typically constitutively expressed so the subset of these enzymes expressed by a cell determines the range of eicosanoids it can synthesize.
Eicosanoids are unstable, undergoing conversion to inactive forms with half-times under physiological conditions of seconds or minutes. Many of these reactions appear to be spontaneous. View original pathway at Reactome.
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Prostaglandins (PG) and Thromboxanes
(TX)Two enzymes, PTGS1 and 2 (COX1 and 2) both catalyze the two-step conversion of arachidonic acid to PGH2. PTGS1 is constitutively expressed in many cell types while PTGS2 is induced in response to stress and mediates the syntheses of prostaglandins associated with pain, fever, and inflammation. Aspirin irreversibly inactivates both enzymes (though it acts more efficiently on PTGS1), explaining both its antiinflammatory effects and side effects like perturbed gastic acid secretion. Drugs like celecoxib, by specifically inhibiting PTGS2, have a strong anti-inflammatory effect with fewer side effects. These PTGS2-specific drugs, however, probably because of their effects on the balance of prostaglandin synthesis in platelets and endothelial cells, can also promote blood clot formation (Buczynski et al. 2009; Stables & Gilroy 2011).
Annotated Interactions
In the skin, ALOXE3 acts downstream of ALOX12B on the linoleate moiety of esterified omega-hydroxyacyl-sphingosine (EOS) ceramides to produce an epoxy-ketone derivative, a crucial step in the conjugation of omega-hydroxyceramide to membrane proteins, important for the maintenance of the skin permeability barrier and protection against water loss. Loss-of-function mutations in ALOX12B and ALOXE3 represent the second most common cause of autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis, a hereditary disorder of keratinization (Yu et al. 2005, Wang et al. 2015). Targeted disruption of these genes in mice resulted in neonatal death due to a severely impaired permeability barrier function (Zheng et al. 2011).