ABSTRACT
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) constitute a vital class of medications in today's headache regimen. However, up until the nineteenth century, they were largely unknown to most of the medical community. The purpose of this review is to explore the evolution of NSAIDs in the treatment of headaches spurred on by the Industrial Revolution in the USA. RECENT FINDINGS: The currently available data on the impact of NSAIDs reflects their significant contribution to headache treatment. The emergence of mass production spurred on by the Industrial Revolution, lead to widespread use of antipyrine, salicylic acid, and acetanilide. However, along with it came the growing awareness of consumer safety, leading to their ultimate downfall, and the subsequent birth of the Food and Drug Act.
Subject(s)
Acetanilides/therapeutic use , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/therapeutic use , Antipyrine/therapeutic use , Headache/drug therapy , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/history , Salicylic Acid/therapeutic use , Acetanilides/history , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/history , Antipyrine/history , Headache/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Salicylic Acid/history , Treatment Outcome , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Cesare Bertagnini was a student of Raffaele Piria. He took orally various acids (nitrobenzoic, camphoric and salicylic) and dosed these compounds and metabolites in his own urines. He acted as a precursor of pharmacokinetics.
Subject(s)
Pharmacokinetics , Biochemistry/history , Camphor/history , Camphor/pharmacokinetics , History, 19th Century , Italy , Nitrobenzoates/history , Nitrobenzoates/pharmacokinetics , Salicylic Acid/history , Salicylic Acid/pharmacokinetics , Urine/chemistryABSTRACT
Recognition of the medicinal properties of extracts of willow (Salix sp) bark is usually attributed to Edward Stone (1702-68) of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire. It was the search for the medicinal compounds that they contained that eventually led to the discovery of salicylic acid, the parent compound of aspirin. Little attention has been given to the work of Samuel James of Hoddesdon who confirmed and extended the results of Stone and who influenced later chemists in their search for specific compounds. Here his work is described and evaluated and his biographical details are recorded.
Subject(s)
Aspirin/history , Chemistry, Analytic/history , Pain/drug therapy , Plant Bark/chemistry , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Salicylic Acid/history , Salix/chemistry , England , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , Humans , Pain/historyABSTRACT
At the beginning was the willow bark, which was considered as a medicine by Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Plinus. During the XVIIIth century, the Reverend Edward Stone re-discovered the willow for the cure of agues. In 1829, the french pharmacist Pierre Joseph Leroux isolated salicin. Raffaelle Piria was the first to synthesize salicylic acid from salicin (salicoside). Hermann Kolbe prepared salicylic acid from sodium phenate and carbon dioxide. And then acetylsalicylic acid was first prepared by Charles Gerhardt in 1853, but he did not succeed in identifying its structure. Felix Hoffmann, Arthur Eichengrun and Heinrich Dresen from Bayer Laboratories were at the origin of the use of Aspirin as a medicine. In 1971, John Vane showed that aspirin-like drugs inhibited prostaglandine synthesis.
Subject(s)
Aspirin/history , Salicylic Acid/history , Salix , Aspirin/therapeutic use , Chemistry/history , History of Pharmacy , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Molecular Structure , Salicylic Acid/chemical synthesisABSTRACT
For several millennia, the willow tree and salicin have been associated with salicylic acid, the key precursor molecule that has contributed to the discovery of acetylsalicylic acid, traded as aspirin. These molecules have been shown to possess phyto- and chemotherapeutic activities as analgesic drugs. In recent decades, aspirin has become the focus of extensive investigation into antiproliferative and anticancer activities. The historical steps that led to the discovery of aspirin, and its antiproliferative and anticancer potential are highlighted in this review.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/history , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/history , Aspirin/history , Salicylic Acid/history , Salix/chemistry , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/chemistry , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/therapeutic use , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/chemistry , Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/therapeutic use , Aspirin/chemistry , Aspirin/therapeutic use , Benzyl Alcohols/chemistry , Benzyl Alcohols/history , Benzyl Alcohols/therapeutic use , Glucosides , History, 18th Century , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , History, Ancient , History, Medieval , Humans , Salicylic Acid/chemistry , Salicylic Acid/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Both external cooling and pharmacotherapy have been used to treat fever since time immemorial. In the past century such treatments have proliferated at an astonishing rate. The COX-2 inhibitors are the most recent additions to the antipyretic pharmacopoeia. Additional research is needed to determine whether they represent an important new chapter in antipyretic therapy's long history or, for that matter, if the benefits of any currently available treatment for fever outweigh its cost.
