Category: Autacoids and their antagonists

Sympathomimetic drugs like epinephrine, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolmaine, and ephedrine antagonize histamine by activating α- and β-adrenoceptors. This counters histamine’s actions of lowering blood pressure and constricting bronchi.

Autacoids are substances that cells release in response to stimuli, and they cause local physiological responses. Imbalances in the production and release of autacoids can lead to chronic inflammation, allergies, and other conditions.

Autacoids or autocoids are biological factors (molecules) which act like local hormones, have a brief duration, and act near their site of biosynthesis. The word autacoid comes from the Greek words “autos” (self) and “acos” (relief; i.e., drug).

An antipruritic neutralizes expressed histamine and other immune mediators. It is the most downstream approach of what is discussed here. A poultice applied to the skin is quite efficient and effective as an antipruritic. Clay functions as both an absorbent and adsorbent.

Autacoids antagonists include the antihistamines (see the Histamine section above), serotonin antagonists (see the Serotonin section above) and prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors (typically aspirin, paracetamol and the NSAIDs- see the Cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors section of the Enzymes module)

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of polyhydroxylated steroidal phytohormones that are required for the development, growth, and productivity of plants. These hormones are involved in regulating the division, elongation, and differentiation of numerous cell types throughout the entire plant life cycle.

Although autacoids have been defined as auto-hormones, they differ from hormones in that they are made, play their role, and are destroyed at the same sites. Many tissues make, respond to, and metabolize autacoids

Autacoids are a group of locally acting signaling molecules in the body that regulate a wide array of physiological processes. Two significant autacoids, thromboxanes and prostacyclin, play essential roles in blood clotting and vascular homeostasis.

“Autacoids are locally produced modulating factors, influencing locally the function of cells and/or tissues, which are produced on demand and which subsequently are metabolized in the same cells and/or tissues.”27 There are many classes of lipid autacoids, among which the groups of the NAEs, Lxs, Pts, Rvs, and Mss ..