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New Targets in Inflammation pp 1–12Cite as

The history of anti-inflammatory drugs and their mechanism of action

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Abstract

The history of the anti-inflammatory drugs begins with the early use of decoctions or preparations of plants containing salicylate. Salicylic acid and salicylates are constituents of several plants long used as medicaments. About 3500 years ago the Egyptian Ebers papyrus recommended the application of a decoction of the dried leaves of myrtle to the abdomen and back to expel rheumatic pains from the womb. A thousand years later Hippocrates recommended the juices of the poplar tree for treating eye diseases and those of willow bark to relieve the pain of childbirth and to reduce fever. All of these medicinal remedies contain salicylates.

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Authors
  1. J. R. Vane
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  2. R. M. Botting
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. LSU Neuroscience Center, Louisiana State University Medical Center, School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Nicolas Bazan

  2. The William Harvey Research Institute, St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK

    Jack Botting  & John Vane  & 

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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Vane, J.R., Botting, R.M. (1996). The history of anti-inflammatory drugs and their mechanism of action. In: Bazan, N., Botting, J., Vane, J. (eds) New Targets in Inflammation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5386-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5386-7_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6265-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5386-7

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