Anti-inflammatory
substance that reduces or suppresses inflammation
Anti-inflammatory refers to any drug, substance or mechanism that reduces inflammation by lessening the redness, swelling, fever, or pain and loss of function which are part of bodies inflammatory response. Anti-inflammatory drugs are agents that inhibit action or production of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, histamines and prostaglandins. These drugs reduce pain by inhibiting mechanisms of inflammation, as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system to block pain.
Common anti-inflammatory drugs include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, antileukotrienes, and monoclonal antibodies.
Clinically approved
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
NSAIDs alleviate pain by counteracting the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme involved in pain mechanisms.
Some common examples of NSAIDs are aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen.
Selective COX-2 inhibitors, such as celecoxib, block the enzymatic conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandin, inhibiting inflammation and pain.
Analgesics commonly associated with anti-inflammatory drugs, such as paracetamol (acetaminophen), have no peripheral anti-inflammatory effects. High, short-term doses of NSAIDs may become toxic, causing gastric erosions, stomach ulcers, internal bleeding, hepatotoxicity, or kidney disease.
The risk of death as a result of GI bleeding caused by the use of NSAIDs is 1 in 12,000 for adults aged 16–45.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Anti-inflammatory” as substance that reduces or suppresses inflammation. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q581996. The Library of Congress control number is sh85005615. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Anti-inflammatory” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.