Since their discovery more than 40 years ago, PGs have been shown to be present in many tissues. The 10 members of this family (PGA-PGI and TxA) that have been identified to date have been noted to have a wide variety of pharmacologic actions. Frequently, the actions of one PG are in direct opposition to those of another. This has led to the theory that PGs play an important role in maintaining homeostasis in many organ systems. Evidence accumulated indicates a major role for PGs in the regulation of blood pressure, the autonomic nervous system, blood flow and platelet aggregation. This is in addition to specific actions on other tissues such as the CNS and reproductive system. A summary of PG actions in humans is contained in Table 1. Unfortunately, the PGs have not been as useful therapeutically as originally hoped. Currently, they are being used to induce labor and to maintain the patency of the PDA. However, they still hold much promise and with the development of synthetic analogues and specific synthesis inhibitors, they should live up to this promise in the future.
自40多年前被发现以来，前列腺素已被证明存在于许多组织中。该家族已确定的10个成员（PGA - PGI和TxA）具有广泛的药理作用。通常，一种前列腺素的作用与另一种前列腺素的作用直接相反。这导致了一种理论，即前列腺素在维持许多器官系统的内环境稳定中起重要作用。积累的证据表明前列腺素在血压调节、自主神经系统、血流和血小板聚集方面起主要作用。这还包括对其他组织如中枢神经系统和生殖系统的特定作用。表1中总结了前列腺素在人体中的作用。不幸的是，前列腺素在治疗上并未达到最初期望的效果。目前，它们被用于引产和维持动脉导管未闭的通畅。然而，它们仍然具有很大的潜力，随着合成类似物和特异性合成抑制剂的开发，它们在未来应该能够实现这一潜力。
