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# Introduction

In this course you will find out that the sensation of pain is caused by the release of a chemical called prostaglandin that stimulates the nerve endings and sends an electrical message to the brain. Inhibiting the formation of prostaglandin reduces pain and we will see, by looking at the specific shape of the molecules involved, how aspirin can so inhibit the formation of prostaglandin. To make the most of the material of this course you will need to use an organic molecular modelling kit such as the one that is supplied by Molymod™ to Open University students who study the module that this course comes from.

This OpenLearn course provides a sample of level 1 study in Science.

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OpenLearn - Pain and aspirin
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