The future of traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in the treatment of inflammation and pain.

Prostanoids act leading roles in a myriad of physiologic and pathologic processes because these autacoids participate in the amplification of biological responses induced by innumerable stimuli. The formation of prostanoids is operated by two synthases named cyclooxygenase(COX)-1 and COX-2. Traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (tNSAIDs) and COX-2 inhibitors (coxibs) give rise to antipyretic, analgesic, and antiinflammatory actions, through their reversible clogging of the COX channel of COX-2 - apart from aspirin which modifies irreversibly the catalytic activity of COX-2.