Skip to main content
. 2020 Jul 1;120(15):7592–7641. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00215

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Prostaglandin (PG) biosynthetic pathway. Bis-dioxygenation and cyclization of arachidonic acid at the cyclooxygenase active site of COX-1 or COX-2 yields PGG2. Reduction of the 15-hydroperoxyl group of PGG2 at the peroxidase active site of COX-1 or COX-2 yields PGH2. PGH2 serves as a substrate for five different synthases, producing four signaling PG products (PGE2, PGI2, PGF2α, and PGD2) or thromboxane A2 (TXA2). PGH2 is chemically unstable under physiological conditions, and in the absence of the synthase enzymes, it is hydrolyzed to a mixture of PGE2 and PGD2.