Discussing the role of
prostaglandins in the body, Samuelsson explained, "It's a control system for the cells that participates in many biological functions. There are endless possibilities of manipulating this system in drug development." His research interests were originally in
cholesterol metabolism with importance to reaction mechanisms. Following the structural work on prostaglandins along with Sune Bergström he was interested mainly in the transformation products of
arachidonic acid. This has led to the identification of
endoperoxides,
thromboxanes and the
leukotrienes, and his group has chiefly been involved in studying the
chemistry,
biochemistry and
biology of these compounds and their function in biological control systems. This research has implications in numerous clinical areas, especially in
thrombosis,
inflammation, and
allergy. This field has grown enormously since those days. Between 1981 and 1995, about 3,000 papers per year were published that specifically used the expression "prostaglandins," or related terms such as "prostacyclins," "leukotrienes," and "thromboxanes," in their labels and titles. Samuelsson had served as a director on the boards of
Pharmacia AB,
NicOx SA, and
Schering AG, and was an advisor to the venture capital fund
HealthCap. ==Death==