Although lithium has been used therapeutically to treat patients with bipolar disorder for over 50 years, its mechanism of action, as well as that of other drugs used to treat bipolar disorder, is not agreed upon. In the present paper, I review studies in unanaesthetized rats using a neuropharmacological approach, combined with kinetic, biochemical and molecular biology techniques, demonstratin...

The calmodulin antagonist trifluoperazine inhibits many responses of human platelets to stimuli such as thrombin. We have now demonstrated that trifluoperazine inhibits the production of all arachidonic acid metabolites, by both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways, in thrombin-stimulated platelets. The metabolism of exogenously supplied arachidonlc acid was not affected by trifluoperazine....

The environmental toxin and carcinogen 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, dioxin) binds and activates the transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), inducing CYP1 family cytochrome P450 enzymes. CYP1A2 and its avian ortholog CYP1A5 are highly active arachidonic acid epoxygenases. Epoxygenases metabolize arachidonic acid to four regioisomeric epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) a...

Human platelets contain an enzyme that catalyzes CoA-independent release of arachidonic acid from phosphatidylcholine with concomitant incorporation into plasmenylethanolamine. Addition of lysoplasmenylethanolamine (10-80 PM) to a crude membrane preparation of prelabeled platelets (0.24 mg of proteinlml) induces transfer of [3H]arachidonate from endogenous phosphatidylcholine to lysoplasmenylet...

Eicosanoid production is reduced when the nitric oxide (NO.) pathway is inhibited or when the inducible NO synthase gene is deleted, indicating that the NO. and arachidonic acid pathways are linked. We hypothesized that peroxynitrite, formed by the reaction of NO. and superoxide anion, may cause signaling events leading to arachidonic acid release and subsequent eicosanoid generation. Western b...

Potato (solanum tuberosum L. cv Katahdin) tuber discs treated with arachidonic acid become necrotic and accumulate sesquiterpenoid phytoalexins. The arachidonic acid also causes increases in both phenylalanine ammonia lyase and lignin, but no change in total alcohol-soluble phenols. Linoleic acid does not alter any of these parameters. A high concentration of nonanoic acid promotes both necrosi...

Arachidonic acid is a potential paracrine agent released by the uterine endometrial epithelium to induce PTGS2 [PG (prostaglandin)-endoperoxide synthase 2] in the stroma. In the present study, bovine endometrial stromal cells were used to determine whether PTGS2 is induced by arachidonic acid in stromal cells, and to investigate the potential role of PPARs (peroxisome-proliferator-activated rec...

Unsaturated long chain fatty acids are known to inhibit the binding between estrogen and estrogen receptor, or progesterone and progesterone receptor in rat uterus. The effects of long chain fatty acids on the binding between androgen receptor of castrated rat prostate and 3H-R1881 were studied. The binding was not affected by saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid (16:0) or stearic acid (...

On the basis of values corresponding to concentrations exhibiting 50% inhibition of platelet aggregation induced with different stimuli and 50% inhibition of arachidonic acid liberation and thromboxane generation, we compared the antiplatelet effect of two cationic amphiphilic drugs--chloroquine and dithiaden. Compared to chloroquine, dithiaden was much more effective in inhibiting platelet agg...