Effect of glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid on arachidonic acid metabolism in peritoneal exudate cells of rat

Abstract

When the peritoneal exudate cells enriched with macrophages were separated from rat and stimulated with calcium ionophore A23187, a significant amount of both leukotriene B₄ and prostaglandin E₂ was produced. The production of these arachidonic acid metabolites was significantly reduced by glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetinic acid. These results suggested that anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic actions of glycyrrhizin and glycyrretinic acid were attributable to their inhibitory actions on the arachidonic acid metabolism at least partially, and these drugs might exert their inhibitory effect on the phospholipase A₂ activation.