Chemical Synthesis and Mass Spectrometry of PAF

Acute and long‐term pulmonary effects of platelet‐activating factor

“…Indeed, it has now been established that the two major molecular species of PAF produced by human neulrophils or rabbit basophils possess a hexadecyl or octadecyl alkyl chain at the sn-\ and an acetate residue at the sn-2 position of the glycerol. The minute amounts of PAF actually isolated from experimental systems usually preclude unequivocal characterization of its stereochemistry; however, sophisticated separation and analytical techniques have demonstrated that the compound is composed of at least 16 molecular species containing saturated or unsaturated alkyl or acyl chains at the .vn-I position, or a polar head group other than choline at the .Y«-3 position of the glycerol [13][14][15][16][17][18][19], reviewed in 20 and 21]. These molecular species are potent aggregating agents for mammalian platelets but not for those of the rat and mouse.…”