Ige and mast cells: prostaglandin’s effect on the body

IgE AND MAST CELLS: PROSTAGLANDIN’S EFFECT ON THE BODY
There are at least 20 different types of prostaglandin, and they have a variety of effects on the body, but all are involved in regulating the immune response, and particularly the inflammation response. Some prostaglandins have opposite effects on the body from others, so it appears that they work together, one modifying the actions of the other. In this way they can fine-tune the body's response to damage or danger.
The prostaglandins produced in the aftermath of a mast-cell reaction are responsible for keeping up the attack on the invader. So it is no coincidence that they have a similar effect on the body to histamine: they make smooth muscles contract and promote inflammation. They produce the 'late phase' reactions seen in allergic individuals, which are considered in more detail on p42.
Mast-cell reactions are not the only source of prostaglandins in the body, and these ubiquitous messengers also play a role in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (see pll9). Prostaglandins can be made by almost any body cell. Indeed, they are made all the time, and constantly destroyed before they can have any effect (a common type of control mechanism in living organisms). The effect of the macrophages, attracted by the mast cells, is simply to boost production of prostaglandins so that they are made faster than they are destroyed. Several other types of cell can boost prostaglandin manufacture in the same way.
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