Role of eicosanoids in inflammatory reactions of rats.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents of several subgroups, regarding eicosanoid-producing enzyme inhibition, have been tested in vitro and in vivo. There was no overt correlation between cyclooxygenase and/or lipoxygenase inhibition in vitro and antiinflammatory effects. It is possible that eicosanoids do not play a key role as inflammatory mediators, i.e. that the course of the life-protecting inflammatory reaction is ensured by an ensemble of mediators, cellular events and further mechanisms of the whole living organism.