Antipyretic effect equals?

• A. Promote sweating
• B. Reduce inflammation
• C. Reduce fever
• D. Decrease immune response

Answer: (C)

Antipyretic effect means lowering fever. Fever happens when pyrogens cause the hypothalamic set-point to rise, mainly by increasing prostaglandin E2. Antipyretics inhibit prostaglandin synthesis in the brain, which brings the set-point back down and leads to heat loss (like vasodilation and sweating) as the body returns to normal temperature. So the best description of an antipyretic effect is reducing fever. The other options describe downstream consequences or related actions (sweating can occur during cooling, anti-inflammatory effects are separate, and decreasing immune response is not the goal).