ABSTRACT
The transformation of arachidonic acid into a multiplicity of lipid intermediates, many of which are extremely active biologically, has been an area of great interest in recent years. The prostaglandins themselves were first isolated and identified by Samuelson and co-workers in the 1960s but the other agents with quaint, albeit accurate, names like ‘rabbit aorta contracting substance’ (thromboxane AZ) and ‘slow reacting substance of anaphylaxis’ (leukotrienes C4 and DJ defied identification until the early 1980s largely because of their instability and low concentrations in biological fluids. The development of sensitive mass spectroscopic and gas chromatographic methods for their isolation was crucial in their identification.
