Involvement of leukotrienes in acute gastric damage

The leukotrienes have potent inflammatory actions which could be of importance in gastric mucosal integrity. In animals, LTC4 produces vasoconstriction in the gastric mucosa. Furthermore, acute gastric damage produced by ethanol is accompanied by marked increases in the mucosal formation of LTC4 and LTB4. Depending on the extent of protection, prostaglandins either have no effect or prevent the increases in leukotriene formation which accompany ethanol-induced damage. Various non-specific inhibitors of leukotriene synthesis prevent ethanol and indomethacin-induced damage to the gastric mucosa. However, a novel selective 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor (BW A4C) had no effect on these models of acute gastric damage at doses which completely inhibited gastric mucosal leukotriene synthesis. These studies cast doubt on the role of the leukotrienes in these models of acute gastric damage. However, the potent biological actions of the leukotrienes may be of importance in the pathogenesis of other forms of gastric damage, or as mediators of chronic gastric ulceration or inflammation.