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Anaesthesia => Analgesic => Prostaglandins
Prostaglandins
Prostaglandins, in biochemistry and medicine, family of hormone-like chemicals occurring naturally in all mammals. Prostaglandins, fatty-acid derivatives, are found in almost all tissues in the human body. More than a dozen biologically important forms of prostaglandins occur, affecting many essential physiological functions.
Although they were first identified in 1935 by the Swedish physiologist Ulf von Euler, research into their actual composition, structure, functions, and medical uses began in the late 1960s. The British pharmacologist John Robert Vane showed in 1971 that the many medical uses of aspirin stem from its ability to block the production of certain prostaglandins.
The first uses of prostaglandins were in obstetrics. By constricting blood vessels in the uterus, some prostaglandins stimulate contractions, making them useful in delivery or therapeutic abortion. In the late 1970s this same action was shown to cause the pain and cramping, called dysmenorrhea, that many women experience during the menstrual period. Administration of drugs that inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, relieves dysmenorrhea in most cases. The effects of prostaglandins on blood vessels are also thought to cause some migraine headaches.
The two prostaglandins discovered in the 1970s, thromboxane and prostacyclin, were found to affect the clotting ability of blood. Thromboxane promotes the clumping of platelets (thrombocytes), the small corpuscles in the blood that aid in wound healing, while prostacyclin inhibits it. Because aggregation of platelets is thought to contribute to stroke and heart attacks, prostaglandin-synthesis inhibitors such as aspirin are now being tested for the ability to prevent these events. Prostaglandins also promote inflammation; thus drugs that block prostaglandin synthesis are effective against arthritis and similar diseases.
Prostaglandins block production of gastric acid, and work is progressing on the development of drugs that may prove useful for treatment of peptic ulcers and other conditions caused by gastric hyperactivity.
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