ABSTRACT
Inflammation is a process that enhances the extravasation of phlogistic substances and leukocytes into tissues where injured or foreign material exists. It may be acute or chronic, consist primarily of fluid or cellular elements, and occur at one or many sites. This chapter explores the subject of inflammation emphasizing the new lipid classes and the generalized, as opposed to the localized, lesions that proinflammatory agents produce. It presents the biochemical, metabolic, and cellular sources of the novel lipids. The chapter describes their bioactions including the toxic, generalized syndromes that they produce, and finally discuss their potential roles in human disease with particular relevance to lung pathophysiology and possibilities for therapeutic intervention. In resting polymorphonuclear neutrophils and platelets (PL), arachidonic acid is not free but rather covalently bonded to more complex lipids. Certain agents that promote inflammation or stimulate PLs have been well defined in numerous studies over the past decade.
