The Chemical and Biological Properties of PAF Agonists, Antagonists, and Biosynthetic Inhibitors

As PAF was being characterized as a highly potent lipid mediator of inflammation and anaphylaxis, its unusual structure stimulated considerable interest in the investigation of various structural analogs, initially to define the structure requirement for its biological actions, and later to explore the possibility of dissociating its cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal activities. More recently, the possible existence of multimolecular species of PAF-like molecules in vivo is also being investigated.