Eugenol: A dual inhibitor of platelet-activating factor and arachidonic acid metabolism

Eugenol is an active principal and responsible for several pharmacological activities of clove oil. We studied the effects of eugenol on human platelet aggregation, arachidonic acid (AA) and platelet-activating factor (PAF) metabolism and in vivo effects on AA and PAF-induced shock in rabbits. Eugenol strongly inhibited PAF-induced platelet aggregation with lesser effect against AA and collegen. The IC50 values were against AA: 31 +/- 0.5; collagen: 64 +/- 0.7 and PAF 7 +/- 0.2 mu M (n=9) respectively. In addition, eugenol stimulated PAF-acetylhydrolase activity suggesting that inhibition of PAF could be due to its inactivation to lyso-PAF. Pretreatment of rabbits with eugenol (50-100 mg/kg) prevented the lethal effects of intravenous PAF (11 mu g/kg) or AA (2 mg/kg) in a dose-dependent fashion. The protective effects of eugenol in the rabbits, however, were more pronounced against PAF-induced mortality (100% protection). In addition, eugenol also inhibited AA metabolism via cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways in human platelets. Both the production of thromboxane-Az and 12-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid was inhibited by eugenol in a concentration-related manner (30-120 mu M). In vivo, eugenol (50-100 mg/kg; i.p.) inhibited carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema (P < 0.001). In this test, eugenol was 5 times more potent than aspirin. These results provide evidence that eugenol acts as a dual antagonist of AA and PAF.