History of aspirin History of aspirin The history of aspirin (IUPAC name acetylsalicylic acid ) begins with its synthesis and manufacture in 1899. Before that, salicylic acid had been used medicinally since antiquity. Medicines made from willow and other salicylate-rich plants appear in clay tablets from ancient Sumer as well as the Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt. Hippocrates referred to their use of salicylic tea to reduce fevers around 400 BC, and were part of the pharmacopoeia of Western medicine in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. Willow bark extract became recognized for its specific effects on fever, pain and inflammation in the
Rosmarinic acid those used in the formation of chlorogenic and caffeoylshikimic acids. In plants, rosmarinic acid is supposed to act as a preformed constitutively accumulated defense compound. Rosmarinic acid is a potential anxiolytic as it acts as a GABA transaminase inhibitor, more specifically on 4-aminobutyrate transaminase. Rosmarinic acid also inhibits the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase via its cyclooxygenase-inhibiting properties. Senescent leaves of "Heliotropium foertherianum" (Boraginaceae) also known as octopus bush, a plant used in many Pacific islands as a traditional medicine to treat ciguatera fish poisoning, contain rosmarinic acid and derivatives. Rosmarinic acid may remove the ciguatoxins from their sites of action.