AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 260, Issue 5 844-R848, Copyright © 1991 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Metabolism of arachidonic acid in nervous system of marine mollusk Aplysia californica

D. Piomelli
Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021.

Studies of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica indicate that products of the 12-lipoxygenase pathway may be involved in neuronal intracellular signaling. The nervous tissue of Aplysia has a 12-lipoxygenase activity that converts both exogenous and endogenous arachidonic acid to an array of products, which include 12-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HPETE) and its metabolites hepoxilin A3, hepoxilin B3, 12-ketoeicosatetraenoic acid, and 12-oxododecatrienoic acid. These eicosanoids were identified using a combination of high-performance liquid chromatography, ultraviolet spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Generation of 12-lipoxygenase products was stimulated by application of the neurotransmitters, histamine and FMRF-amide, or by stimulation of identified neural cells. In electrophysiological studies of identified L14 and sensory neurons it was found that 12-HPETE and its metabolic products exert physiological actions that resemble those of histamine and FMRF-amide. These results suggest that products of 12-HPETE metabolism may act as second messengers in Aplysia neurons.

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