John Vane is credited for influencing physicians to prescribe aspirin for heart problems. He showed that aspirin blocs the action of special substances in the body called prostaglandins.
On June 23, 1971, the journal Nature published three articles of the group of John Vane at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which sent shock waves across the world.
These articles demonstrated for the first time a mechanism of action of aspirin that explained the multiple biological activities of the compound by one single pharmacological effect: inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis.
Prostaglandins play important regulatory roles in life processes such as digestion, blood circulation and production.
In his pioneering paper, the later Sir John Vane showed by elegant bioassay experiments that aspirin - and salicylate – preventing the synthesis of prostaglandin in cell free systems after tissue injury.
Thus, aspirin is referred to as an antiplatelet agent that is a mild blood thinner.
In the same year an informative paper was published by William L. Smith and William E. M. Lands. Using acetone powder preparations of sheep vesicular glands they demonstrated time-dependent aspirin and indomethacin inhibition, with indomethacin 100 times as effective.
The understanding how aspirin works
