Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications,[1] including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology.More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function.Pharmakon is related to pharmakos, the ritualistic sacrifice or exile of a human scapegoat or victim in Ancient Greek religion.[11] Before the second half of the nineteenth century, the remarkable potency and specificity of the actions of drugs such as morphine, quinine and digitalis were explained vaguely and with reference to extraordinary chemical powers and affinities to certain organs or tissues.[12] The first pharmacology department was set up by Rudolf Buchheim in 1847, at University of Tartu, in recognition of the need to understand how therapeutic drugs and poisons produced their effects.Pharmacology developed in the 19th century as a biomedical science that applied the principles of scientific experimentation to therapeutic contexts.Psychopharmacology is the study of the use of drugs that affect the psyche, mind and behavior (e.g. antidepressants) in treating mental disorders (e.g.[citation needed] The related field of neuropsychopharmacology focuses on the effects of drugs at the overlap between the nervous system and the psyche.[17][18] It refers to the direct measurement of metabolites in an individual's bodily fluids, in order to predict or evaluate the metabolism of pharmaceutical compounds, and to better understand the pharmacokinetic profile of a drug.[citation needed] For pharmacology regarding individual genes, pharmacogenetics studies how genetic variation gives rise to differing responses to drugs.[citation needed] Pharmacoepigenetics studies the underlying epigenetic marking patterns that lead to variation in an individual's response to medical treatment.When a useful activity has been identified, chemists will make many similar compounds called analogues, to try to maximize the desired medicinal effect(s).[33] One must also determine how safe the medicine is to consume, its stability in the human body and the best form for delivery to the desired organ system, such as tablet or aerosol.[33] Because of these long timescales, and because out of every 5000 potential new medicines typically only one will ever reach the open market, this is an expensive way of doing things, often costing over 1 billion dollars.For example, pharmacoepidemiology concerns the variations of the effects of drugs in or between populations, it is the bridge between clinical pharmacology and epidemiology.[34][35] Pharmacoenvironmentology or environmental pharmacology is the study of the effects of used pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) on the environment after their elimination from the body.The energy of light is used to change for shape and chemical properties of the drug, resulting in different biological activity.The major systems studied in pharmacology can be categorised by their ligands and include acetylcholine, adrenaline, glutamate, GABA, dopamine, histamine, serotonin, cannabinoid and opioid.The topology of a biochemical reaction network determines the shape of drug dose-response curve[42] as well as the type of drug-drug interactions,[43] thus can help designing efficient and safe therapeutic strategies.Those with a narrow margin are more difficult to dose and administer, and may require therapeutic drug monitoring (examples are warfarin, some antiepileptics, aminoglycoside antibiotics).Most anti-cancer drugs have a narrow therapeutic margin: toxic side-effects are almost always encountered at doses used to kill tumors.A pharmacist needs to be well-equipped with knowledge on pharmacology for application in pharmaceutical research or pharmacy practice in hospitals or commercial organisations selling to customers.
Materia medicapharmacokineticspharmacodynamicstoxicologybiochemicalpharmaceuticalsdrug designmechanismsmolecular diagnosticsinteractionschemical biologyreceptorsabsorptionmetabolismexcretionpharmacybiomedical sciencepoisonpharmakosscapegoatAncient Greek religionendogenousagonistsantagonistsenzymemonoamine oxidaseList of drugs by year of discoveryHistory of pharmacyopium poppiesmorphineopioid agonistclinical pharmacologyMiddle AgespharmacognosyAvicennaThe Canon of MedicinePeter of SpainJohn of St AmandherbalismpharmacopoeiasCrude drugsactive ingredientTraditional medicineChineseMongolianTibetanKorean medicinepseudoscienceentheogensNicholas CulpeperWilliam WitheringquininedigitalisRudolf Buchheimpharmacology departmentEnglandUniversity College Londonorgan bathmyographligand binding assaybinding affinitygeneticsmolecular biologybiochemistrypersonalized medicineneuropharmacologycentralperipheral nervous systemsimmunopharmacologycardiovascularendocrinePsychopharmacologypsycheneuropsychopharmacologyPharmacometabolomicsmetabolomicsmetabolitespharmaceuticalmetabolitePharmacomicrobiomicsmicrobiomePharmacogenomicsdrug discoverypharmacogeneticsPharmacoepigeneticsepigeneticDrug developmentDrug Discovery Hit to Leadtoxicologistpharmacotherapymedicinedevelopmentinventivechargelead compoundpharmacoeconomicshealth economicsdiscoveryformulationpharmaceutical engineeringengineeringSafety pharmacologyDevelopment of medicationeconomicalpoliticalconsumerUnited StatesFood and Drug AdministrationstandardsUnited States PharmacopoeiaEuropean UnionEuropean Pharmacopoeiainverse benefit lawplacebomedicinal chemistrypharmacoepidemiologyepidemiologyPharmacoenvironmentologypharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environmentethnopharmacologyPhotopharmacologyside effectsdose response curvescell biologymetabolic pathwayshalf-life