1. Unité de recherches de Cardiologie, INSERM U8, Avenue du Haut-Lévêque, 33600 Pessac France;1. Laboratoire de Biochimie, CHU Dupuytren, 87000 Limoges France
Abstract:
In addition to the well established cyclooxygenase pathway, cultured aortic smooth muscle cells convert arachidonic acid to several polar metabolites identified by high performance liquid chromatography and gaz chromatography — mass spectrometry. 15-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, 12-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 5-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid are the major products formed. These observations indicate that the rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells are a potential source of lipoxygenase products and raise the possibility that this pathway of arachidonic acid metabolism can influence the biological functions of arterial myocytes under normal and pathological conditions.