COURSE OBJECTIVES

Pharmacology (an amalgam of the Greek pharmakos, medicine or drug, and logos, study is a broad discipline describing the use of chemicals to treat and cure disease. Pharmacology is concerned primarily with the characterization of the properties and modes of action of drugs and with the discovery of new drugs. The study and practice of pharmacology also includes drug toxicity, the way drugs are used and the processes by which drugs are absorbed, distributed in the body, metabolized and excreted. There are sub-disciplines within pharmacology representing specialty areas. Pharmacological knowledge and understanding improves the lives of millions of people across the world by providing vital answers at every stage of the discovery, testing and clinical use of new medicines. The ability to use medicines effectively, to maximise their benefit and minimise risk and harm, relies on this knowledge. Pharmacology is also crucial for discovering new medicines to help fight diseases such as cancer, depression, heart disease and infectious diseases.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (CLO)

CLO: 1. To explain Pharmacokinetics (ADME) and pharmacodynamics with respect to related terminologies, underlying principles and processes.
CLO: 2. To discuss classification, pharmacokinetics, mechanism of action, therapeutic uses and adverse effects of drugs acting on autonomic nervous system (ANS) and Gastrointestinal system (GIT).
CLO: 3. To apply the knowledge of pharmacology to clinical practice in relation to the choice of therapeutic agent, route of drug administration and adverse effects.

COURSE CONTENTS

  1. GENERAL PHARMACOLOGY
    • Pharmacology: Definition of Pharmacology, history and its various branches. Definition of Drug and its various sources.
    • Routes of drug administration, advantages and disadvantages.
    • Pharmacokinetics: Drug solubility and passage of drug across the biological membranes. Absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs and factors affecting them. Various pharmacokinetic parameters including volume of distribution (Vd), clearance (Cl), Biological half life (t1/2β) Bioavailability and various factors affecting it. Dose, Efficacy and Potency of drugs. Hypersensitivity and Idiosyncratic reactions, drug tolerance and dependence. Drug interactions. Plasma protein binding.
    • Pharmacodynamics: How drugs act? Receptors and their various types with special reference to their molecular structures. Cell surface receptors, signal transduction by cell surface receptors, signaling Mediated by intra cellular receptors, target cell and hyper sensitization, Pharmacological effects not Mediated by receptors (for example anesthetics and cathartics) Ion channel, enzymes, carrier proteins, Drug receptor interactions and theories of drug action. Agonist, antagonist, partial agonist, inverse agonist. Receptors internalization and receptors co-localization. Physiological Antagonism, Pharmacological Antagonism (competitive and non-competitive), Neutralization Antagonism, Neurotransmission and neuro-modulation. Specificity of drug action and factors modifying the action & dosage of drugs. Median lethal dose (LD:50), Median effective dose (ED:50) and Therapeutic Index, Dose-response relationships
  2. DRUGS ACTING ON AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS)
    • Organization of ANS its subdivisions and innervations
    • Neurotransmitters in ANS, their synthesis, release and fate
    • Sympathetic agonists: Catecholamines and Non-catecholamines
    • Sympathetic antagonists: Adrenergic receptor Blockers and neuron blockers
    • Parasympathetic (Cholinergic) agonists and cholinesterase enzyme inhibitors (anticholinesterases) Parasympathetic antagonists
    • Ganglion stimulants and Ganglion blockers
    • Neuromuscular Blockers
  3. DRUGS ACTING ON GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT:
    • Emetic and anti-emetics
    • Purgatives
    • Anti-diarrheal agents
    • Treatment of Peptic & duodenal ulcer: Antacids, H2-Receptor antagonists, antimuscarinic agents, proton pump inhibitors, prostaglandin antagonists, gastrin receptor antagonist and cytoprotective agents
    • Drug treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases
    • Drugs affecting bile flow and Cholelithiasis