| Abstract: | Increased concentrations of eicosanoids are found in synovial fluids (SF) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). SF polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), which derive from peripheral blood, usually account for approximately 90% of the cells in RA SF. Since eicosanoid precursor fatty acids (FA) are liberated by phospholipases from membrane phospholipids, we examined phospholipase A2 and C activities in peripheral blood PMN from patients with RA. Peripheral blood PMN from patients with RA (RA-PMN) exhibit greater phospholipase A2 activities against phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and greater phospholipase C activities against PC, PE, and phosphatidylinositol (PI) than PMN obtained from normal volunteers (N-PMN). |
