白三烯参与过敏性哮喘和炎症过程,鉴于所有白三烯均从花生四烯酸通过5-脂氧酶代谢途径形成,因而发现新的特异性高的5-脂氧酶抑制剂将可开发新的抗哮喘和抗炎药。作者从一些中国药用植物中分离得咖啡酸、七叶亭、eupatilin 及4′-去甲基eupatilin 等天然化合物,测得其抑制5-脂氧酶活性的ID_(50)分别为 Leukotrienes are involved in allergic asthma and inflammatory processes, and as all leukotrienes are formed from arachidonic acid through the 5-lipoxygenase metabolic pathway, new and specific 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors have been found to develop New anti-asthma and anti-inflammatory drugs. The authors isolated natural compounds such as caffeic acid, esculetin, eupatilin and 4’-demethylation eupatilin from some Chinese medicinal plants and found that the ID50 of 5-lipoxygenase activity was