Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Prostaglandin |
ProstaglandinNoun1. Potent hormone-like substance found in many bodily tissues (and especially in semen); produced in response to trauma and may affect blood pressure and metabolism and smooth muscle activity. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | Any of a group of components derived from unsaturated 20-carbon fatty acids, primarily arachidonic acid, via the cyclooxygenase pathway that are extremely potent mediators of a diverse group of physiologic processes. The abbreviation for prostaglandin is PG; specific compounds are designated by adding one of the letters A through I to indicate the type of substituents found on the hydrocarbon skeleton and a subscript (1, 2 or 3) to indicate the number of double bonds in the hydrocarbon skeleton e.g., PGE2. The predominant naturally occurring prostaglandins all have two double bonds and are synthesized from arachidonic acid (5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid) by the pathway shown in the illustration. The 1 series and 3 series are produced by the same pathway with fatty acids having one fewer double bond (8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid or one more double bond (5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid) than arachidonic acid. The subscript a or indicates the configuration at C-9 (a denotes a substituent below the plane of the ring, , above the plane). The naturally occurring PGF's have the a configuration, e.g., PGF2a. All of the prostaglandins act by binding to specific cell-surface receptors causing an increase in the level of the intracellular second messenger cyclic AMP (and in some cases cyclic GMP also). The effect produced by the cyclic AMP increase depends on the specific cell type. In some cases there is also a positive feedback effect. Increased cyclic AMP increases prostaglandin synthesis leading to further increases in cyclic AMP. (references) |
Medicine | Cellular hormone involved in pain and inflammation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Prostaglandin is one of the prostanoid class of fatty acid derivative lipids containing prostaglandins and thromboxanes. The prostanoid class is a subclass of eicosanoids. They are mediators and have a variety of strong physiological effects.
The name prostaglandin comes from the prostate gland. Prostaglandin was first isolated from seminal fluid in 1936, they were believed to have been added from the prostate.
Prostaglandins are found in many human tissues and organs. They are synthesized in cell membranes from arachidonate acid created by phospholipase A2, the intermediate is then passed into one of either the cyclooxygenase or lipoxygenase pathways to form either prostaglandin and thromboxane or leukotriene. The cyclooxygenase pathway produces thromboxane, prostacyclin and prostaglandin D, E and F. The lipoxygenase pathway is active in leukocytes and in macrophages and synthesises leukotrines.
Prostaglandins have a wide variety of actions but most cause muscular constriction and inflammation. Other effects can be calcium movement, hormone regulation and cell growth control. Thromboxane is created in platelets and causes vasular constriction and platelet aggregation. Prostacyclin comes from cells in the blood vessel walls and is antagonistic to thromboxane.
Prostaglandins are potent but only active for a short time before being inactivated and excreted.
NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase and reduce prostaglandin sysnthesis. Corticosteroids inhibit phospholipase A2 production by boosting production of lipocortin, an inhibitor protein.
Synthetic prostaglandins are used to induce labour (E2 or F2, with mifepristone), to treat gastric or duodenal ulcers (E), and in the treatment of newborn babies with heart disease (to close the ductus arteriosus)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Prostaglandin."
Crosswords: Prostaglandin |
| Specialty definitions using "prostaglandin": 15-Oxoprostaglandin 13-Reductase, 16,16-Dimethylprostaglandin E2 ♦ Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors, Arbaprostil ♦ Cloprostenol ♦ Dinoprost ♦ Epoprostenol ♦ Meclofenamic Acid, Misoprostol ♦ Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Synthetic, Prostaglandins A, Synthetic, Prostaglandins G, Prostaglandins H ♦ Receptors, Prostaglandin, Receptors, Prostaglandin E ♦ Salicylates, Suprofen ♦ Thromboxane A2, Thromboxane B2, Thromboxane-A Synthase, Thromboxanes. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Prostaglandin" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Danish (prostaglandin), German (prostaglandin). |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The most effective and well-studied agents are papaverine, phentolamine, and prostaglandin E[sub 1]. These have been used either singly or in combination. (references) | |
Prostaglandin E[sub 1] can be used together with papaverine and phentolamine to decrease the incidence of side effects such as pain, penile corporal fibrosis, fibrotic nodules, hypotension, and priapism. (references) | ||
Epidemiologic evidence strongly suggests that persons who take anti-inflammatory agents that inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including ibuprofen and indomethacin, have a decreased risk of AD. These drugs inhibit COX, a type of enzyme that plays a major role in the series of events leading to the production of prostaglandins. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Prostaglandin" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.30% of the time. "Prostaglandin" is used about 143 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.3% | 142 | 26,554 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.7% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 143 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "prostaglandin": Prostaglandin Antagonists ♦ Prostaglandin D2 ♦ Prostaglandin Endoperoxides ♦ prostaglandin I2. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "prostaglandin": Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "prostaglandin"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 前列腺 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Danish | prostaglandin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Dutch | prostaglandinen, prostaglandine, pg (Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
French | prostaglandine (f), prostaglandine. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
German | Prostaglandin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Italian | prostaglandina. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | プログラ 誘導 (pro shop, procedure, procedure call, proceeding, proceeds, process, process cheese, process control, processing, professional sports, progesterone, program guidance, progress, progressive, progressive rock, project, project method, project team, projector, prospect, prospective, prostitute, speciality shop). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | プロスタグランディン . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ostaglandinpray prostaglandina(s). (various references) prostaglandina. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "prostaglandin": prostaglandins. (additional references) | |
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"Prostaglandin" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: prostaglandine, prostaglandins, prostalandins, prosteglandin, prostglandin, protaglandin, protaglandins. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "prostaglandin" (pronounced prōstagla"ndun) |
| 5 | -a" n d u n | abandon. |
| 4 | -n d u n | Linden, tendon. |
| 3 | -d u n | bedridden, beholden, broaden, burden, cordon, deaden, downtrodden, embolden, forbidden, garden, gladden, golden, harden, hidden, Holden, Jordan, laden, leaden, Loden, Louden, madden, maiden, menhaden, Myrmidon, olden, overburden, overridden, pardon, prekindergarten, redden, ridden, sadden, sodden, Soldan, sudden, unburden, warden, widen, wooden. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-d-g-i-l-n-n-o-p-r-s-t" | |
-2 letters: postlanding. | |
-3 letters: antipodals, gladiators, gradations, indagators, nonspatial, planations, snapdragon, sporangial, trainloads. | |
-4 letters: adaptions, adnations, agnations, analogist, antinodal, antipodal, antisolar, diagonals, gladiator, gradation, indagator, nationals, nostalgia, pangolins, paranoids, pardoning, pastorali, pastoring, plainsong, planation, plantains, plantings, prodigals, pronating, rationals, sandaling, santolina, sporangia, springald, stranding, talapoins, tragopans, trainload. | |
-5 letters: adapting, adaption, adaptors, adnation, adopting, adorning, agnation, alations. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-d-g-i-l-n-n-o-p-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: prostaglandins. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Quotations: Non-fiction | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
