Mechanism of the stimulation of prostaglandin H synthase and prostacyclin synthase by the antithrombotic and antimetastatic agent, nafazatrom.

Nafazatrom, an antithrombotic and antimetastatic agent containing a pyrazolone functionality, is a reducing substrate for the peroxidase activity of prostaglandin H (PGH) synthase. Nafazatrom inhibits the hydroperoxide-dependent oxidation of phenylbutazone, stimulates the reduction of 15-hydroperoxy-5,8,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid, and is oxidized by microsomal or purified enzyme preparations from ram seminal vesicles. Consonant with the effects of other peroxidase-reducing substrates, nafazatrom stimulates the oxygenation of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin endoperoxides by the cyclooxygenase component of PGH synthase. In addition, nafazatrom causes an elevation in the levels of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha, the non-enzymatic hydrolysis product of prostacyclin (PGI2) biosynthesized from arachidonic acid by ram seminal vesicle microsomes. Elevation of PGI2 biosynthetic capacity by nafazatrom occurs under conditions in which prostaglandin endoperoxide biosynthesis is maximal, suggesting that nafazatrom has a stimulatory effect on the conversion of prostaglandin endoperoxides to PGI2. Nafazatrom has no effect on the ability of ram seminal vesicle microsomes to convert PGH2 to PGI2 but protects microsomal PGI2 synthase from inactivation by 15-hydroperoxy-5,8,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid. Nafazatrom stimulates PGI2 biosynthesis in ram seminal vesicle microsomes by acting as a substrate for the peroxidase-catalyzed reduction of hydroperoxy fatty acids that are irreversible inactivators of PGI2 synthase. Several other compounds, including dipyridamole and triiodothyronine, exert similar effects. This may contribute to the reported ability of nafazatrom and related compounds to elevate the levels of bioassayable PGI2 in vivo and to the antithrombotic and antimetastatic activities of nafazatrom.