Prostaglandins??? I have to do a report and don't know if I fully understand them.?

Question

I need to know where and what they are secreted from.

Answer 1

Prostaglandins are produced in the testes in the male and in the ovaries in the female. There is a specific transporter that causes it to be released from cells. They have many different functions, including
causing constriction or dilatation in vascular smooth muscle cells (this is how they trigger childbirth - they cause the smooth muscle in the wall of the uterus to contract); causing aggregation or disaggregation of platelets; sensitizing spinal neurons to pain; regulating inflammatory mediation; regulating calcium movement; regulating hormone regulation; and controling cell growth. See wikipedia for more information

Answer 2

Prostaglandins were first discovered and isolated from human semen in the 1930s by Ulf von Euler of Sweden. Thinking they had come from the prostate gland, he named them prostaglandins. It has since been determined that they exist and are synthesized in virtually every cell of the body.

Prostaglandins, are like hormones in that they act as chemical messengers, but do not move to other sites, but work right within the cells where they are synthesized.

Prostaglandins are unsaturated carboxylic acids, consisting of of a 20 carbon skeleton that also contains a five member ring. They are biochemically synthesized from the fatty acid, arachidonic acid.