Human anterior uvea synthesizes lipoxygenase products from arachidonic acid.

Arachidonic acid is metabolized into biologically active prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and lipoxygenase products, leukotrienes. In the present study, the ability of human anterior uvea to synthesize lipoxygenase products from 14C-radiolabelled arachidonic acid is assessed. Following cyclooxygenase inhibition by indomethacin, human anterior uvea, similar to rabbit conjunctiva and anterior uvea, synthesizes chemotactic products 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE) and 5,12-DiHETE, indicating the presence of both 5- and 12-lipoxygenase enzyme activities.