Arachidonic-acid metabolism in normal and experimentally-inflamed rat dental pulp.

Pulp homogenates were incubated with [14C]-arachidonic acid and the metabolites separated by thin-layer chromatography. The main products of normal pulp were 6-keto-prostaglandin (PG) F1 alpha and 12-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE), further identified by high performance-liquid chromatography. Thromboxane (TX) B2, and PGD2, E2 and F2 alpha were also detected at less than 30 per cent of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha. When the pulp was inflamed by applying bacterial lipopolysaccharide, production of all these metabolites increased; in particular, PGE2 was increased 9.3-fold compared with normal, and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and HETE 3.8- and 2.0-fold, respectively. An unidentified product, slightly more polar than 12-HETE, was also markedly produced by the inflamed pulp. Thus arachidonic-acid metabolites including lipoxygenase products may be involved in the development of pulpal inflammation.