Prostaglandins and asthma.

Prostaglandins

Knowledge of the structure and synthesis of antibodies (immunoglobulins) has developed to a remarkable degree in the last decade. Distinct classes of immunoglobulin (yG, yM, -yA, yD, yE, and their subgroups) have been identified and shown to consist of fixed numbers of light and heavy polypeptide chains organized in pairs. Each polypeptide has a segment of variable amino acid sequence; the spec...

[Prostaglandins].

Prostaglandins and glaucoma.

Human aqueous humour was found to contain a substance which contracted the rat stomach strip. The mean activity was significantly higher in specimens from open angle glaucoma cases than in specimens from patients with cataract. The pharmacological and chromatographic properties of the active material were studied in aqueous humour obtained from cadavers; activity seemed to be due to prostagland...

Prostaglandins and the kidney.

Prostaglandins and their precursors

Arachidonic acid is a slippery molecule that owes its mobility to its four cis double bonds. These are the source of its flexibility, keeping the pure fatty acid liquid, even at subzero temperatures, and helping to give mammalian cell membranes their correct fluidity at physiological temperatures. The double bonds are also the key to the propensity of arachidonic acid to react with molecular ox...