Cutaneous inflammatory lipid mediators

Inflammation is the physiological response of the organism to different stimuli such as infection, trauma, or immunological mechanisms. Lipid mediators play a major role in skin inflammation and are known as "local mediators" acting in the intercellular microenvironments, where they reach considerable levels. A complex family of lipid mediators regulates a wide variety of physiological responses and pathological processes. Lipid mediators are produced by all human tissues, differing widely in the amounts of the various enzymes they contain and, therefore, in the relative proportions and amounts of products. The authors emphasize the effects and roles of lipid mediators in skin inflammation, focusing particularly on evidence provided by recently published studies. In the future, pharmacologic manipulation of lipid mediators and their receptors may provide a novel approach for controlling inflammation.