Eicosanoids are twenty-carbon compounds derived from arachidonic acid. Lipoxygenases, cyclooxygenases and cytochrome P-450 enzymes contribute to their synthesis. Our review is focused on prostaglandins, leucotrienes, lipoxins, hepoxilins, hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids, and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids. Most of these compounds have multiple functions and they also participate in blood pressure regulation and excretion of water and solutes in the kidney. They have some roles in the patogenesis of kidney disease, too. Both experimental models (mainly geneticaly modified mice and rats) and human epidemiological and genetical studies are used in the investigation of eicosanoid physiological and patophysiological functions. New information about their enzymatic regulations and receptors have already resulted in the development of new drugs, mainly antiasthmatics, but further investigation should bring about new results in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular and renal diseases.

Pracoviste experimentální medicíny IKEM Praha