Role of arachidonic acid-derived eicosanoids in intestinal innate immunity

Abstract

Arachidonic acid (ARA), an n-6 essential fatty acid, plays an important role in human and animal growth and development. The ARA presents in the membrane phospholipids can be released by phospholipase A2. These free arachidonic acid molecules are then used to produce eicosanoids through three different pathways. Previous studies have demonstrated that eicosanoids have a wide range of physiological functions. Although they are generally considered to be pro-inflammatory molecules, recent advances have elucidated they have an effect on innate immunity via regulating the development, and differentiation of innate immune cells and the function of the intestinal epithelial barrier. Here, we review eicosanoids generation in intestine and their role in intestinal innate immunity, focusing on intestinal epithelial barrier, innate immune cell in lamina propria (LP) and their crosstalk.

Keywords:

• Arachidonic acid
• prostaglandins
• leukotrienes
• cell proliferation/differentiation
• innate immunity
• intestinal epithelial barrier

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project of China (NO. 2017YFD0500503), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (2662019YJ006), Hubei Agricultural Sciences and Technology Innovation Center (2019ABA081), Hubei Provincial Creative Team Project (2016-620-000-001-043).