It has been suggested that giving cell-salvaged blood through a leucocyte depletion filter can cause hypotension due to bradykinin released when factor XII and platelets are activated by the negatively charged surface of the filter. We measured the concentration of bradykinin and cysteinyl leukotrienes in cell-salvaged blood sampled before and after passage through a negatively charged leucodep...

During the last 25 years prostaglandins and, more recently, leukotrienes have commanded increasing interest in the field of medical research. The identification of these substances as potent local hormones which contribute to many physiological and pathological processes has made them the target for potential new therapies. An understanding of the origin of prostaglandins and leukotrienes has l...

Three leukotrienes (LTB4, C4, D4) were locally applied to cerebral arterioles in doses varying from 3 X 10(-8) to 4 X 10(-7) M and each produced a dose related constriction. LTC was tested in the presence and absence of FPL-55712, a relatively specific inhibitor of leukotriene receptors. A low dose (10(-8) M) of FPL-55712 did markedly reduce the response to the LTC and did not significantly alt...

Preclinical atherosclerosis represents a crucial period associated with several pathophysiological reactions in the vascular wall. Failure to diagnose preclinical atherosclerosis at this stage misses a major opportunity to prevent the long-term consequences of this disease. Surrogate biological and structural vascular markers are available to determine the presence and the extension of preclini...

The lymphatic system is essential for the maintenance of tissue fluid homeostasis, gastrointestinal lipid absorption, and immune trafficking. Whereas lymphatic regeneration occurs physiologically in wound healing and tissue repair, pathological lymphangiogenesis has been implicated in a number of chronic diseases such as lymphedema, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Insight into the regulatory mecha...

Previous studies involving transfection of cDNAs for 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein (FLAP) and 5-lipoxygenase into osteosarcoma cells have shown that both these proteins are essential for leukotriene synthesis (Dixon, R. A. F., Diehl, R. E., Opas, E., Rands, E., Vickers, P. J., Evans, J. F., Gillard, J. W., and Miller, D. K. (1990) Nature 343, 282-284). In the present study we show that FLAP...

BACKGROUND Sepsis impairs hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) in patients and animal models, contributing to systemic hypoxemia. Concentrations of cysteinyl leukotrienes are increased in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with sepsis, but the contribution of cysteinyl leukotrienes to the impairment of HPV is unknown. METHODS Wild-type mice, mice deficient in leukotriene C(4) sy...