Structural and Functional Basis of Cyclooxygenase Inhibition

Brief History. The use of medicinal substances for the treatment of pain and fever dates to ancient Egyptian and Grecian civilizations, where dried myrtle leaves or bitter extracts from the bark of poplar trees were used to treat back and abdominal pain. The Ebers papyrus from ancient Egypt (1850 B.C.) is the oldest preserved medical text and contains the first record documenting the use of plant remedies for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Other records show that in 400 B.C., Hippocrates prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree to reduce fever and to relieve the pain of childbirth. The first published report documenting the antipyretic and analgesic properties of willow bark appeared in England in 1763 in a presentation to the Royal Society by Reverend Edward Stone. 1