Cyclooxygenase enzymes and their products in the carrageenan-induced pleurisy in rats

Rodent models of inflammation have helped in our understanding of the inflammatory process and also for the screening of compounds with anti-inflammatory potential. Although they do not represent a particular inflammatory disease in humans, cavity models of inflammation in rodents are easy to induce and to quantify the inflammatory reaction as well as to harvest the inflammatory exudates for cytological, biochemical and molecular biological analysis. Of these models, the carrageenan-induced pleurisy model has been extensively used to study the role of the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes and the prostaglandins in acute inflammation and also for the screening of COX-inhibiting anti-inflammatory drugs.