Animal Lipoxygenases – Mechanism of Catalysis in Relation to Formation of Biologically Active Eicosanoids

Abstract

Lipoxygenases form a family of nonheme iron-containing enzymes involved in the lipid peroxidation processes. They participate, together with cyclooxy­genases and cytochrome P-450, in the arachidonic acid metabolism, forming a group of cell signal molecules and secon­dary messengers called eicosanoids. The lipoxygenase-catalyzed reactions are highly controlled processes media­ted by steric shielding of substrate by bulky amino acid side chains in the reaction center. Equally important is the channeling of molecular oxygen and the anchoring of substrate in a substrate-binding cavity. From the viewpoint of development of new effective drugs, study of lipoxygena­­ses and bio­logically active eicosanoids opens new horizons for affec­ting pathological processes.