Amelie (O)
P
aracetamol as we know it is one of the most
How paracetamol works isn’t something that is often
widely used medicines worldwide, but what real-
thought about, and despite being a commonly used
ly is it? How does it work? And is it as safe as we all
medicine for over 100 years, it is a question that scien-
assume?
tists don’t fully know the answer to. To understand how it is believed to work, we have to know what
Acetaminophen is another name for Paracetamol, a molecule with the molecular formula C8H9NO2, which looks like this:
prostaglandins are. They are a family of tissue hormones which are produced as a response to injury or a few certain diseases. The most important function in this context is that they sensitize nerve endings so that when they are stimulated, we feel pain. The reason for this is it prevents us from doing further damage to this area. In order to reduce pain, paracetamol inhibits and therefore reduces these prostaglandins in the spinal cord, effectively increasing our pain tolerance so that we feel less pain. Similarly, to calm a fever, paracetamol affects the chemical messengers in the area of the brain which controls body temperature, the hypothalamic heat regulating centre.
The drug synthesized and tested before paracetamol It is commonly used to treat mild to moderate pain and fever, and is used by both adults and children, but interestingly the evidence for its use to treat children is actually mixed. Some of its medical uses include fever, pain, headaches and osteoarthritis.
was Acetanilide, the first medicine to have both analgesic (painkilling) and antipyretic (fever-reducing) effects, but it never hit the market due to its unacceptable toxic effects. Despite this, however, it prompted a search for a safer alternative drug with these same analgesic and antipyretic effects. Harmon Northrop Morse had
