This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

We read with interest the commentary by Eidelman et al¹ in regard to aspirin, postmenopausal hormones, and C-reactive protein (CRP). The authors discuss the potential value of CRP, a sensitive marker of inflammation, in predicting cardiovascular events and the effects of aspirin in reducing CRP. There are 2 additional points worth considering: first, how aspirin produces the anti-inflammatory effect and, second, that "endogenous" salicylic acid may influence the background inflammatory state and the effects of aspirin. Aspirin has a short half-life and is rapidly metabolized and hydrolyzed to salicylic acid, its principal metabolite.² The anti-inflammatory action of aspirin is probably due to salicylic acid,³ although how salicylic acid exerts its anti-inflammatory action in vivo is the subject of much research; salicylic acid has little effect on cyclooxygenase-2 activity in vitro. There is substantial interindividual variation in serum salicylic acid concentrations after the administration of aspirin, 75 mg/d.⁴ This is related, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?