534-201 Pharmacology

Note:

• Special requirements: Laboratory coat.

• Experiments involving the use of animals are an essential part of this subject; exemption is not possible.

Credit Points:

Coordinator:

Prerequisite/s:

Timetable:

Contact:

Objectives:

By the end of the second year teaching program in Pharmacology (lectures) the student should:

Comprehend:

• the basic principles of drug action including how drugs are absorbed and distributed in the body;

• how drugs are eliminated and how they produce their pharmacological effects;

• how new drugs are developed from nature and by chemical synthesis and how drugs are evaluated;

• the roles of drugs in society and how drugs are controlled and regulated;

• aspects of the pharmacology of food and beverages; the mechanisms underlying drug abuse and potential strategies for dealing with the problem;

• aspects of the pharmacology of environmental contaminants and venoms and toxins and the principles of selective toxicity;

• the basic concepts of the pharmacological concentration response relationship, competitive antagonism, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic modelling.

Have developed:

• skills to be able to interpret basic mechanisms of drug action;

• skills to be able to critically evaluate pharmacological literature;

• skills to carry out various types of pharmacological experiments using a variety of techniques;

• skills to record pharmacological observations, quantitative and qualitative laboratory manipulative skills;

• computer expertise to allow performance and analysis of laboratory experiments;

• skills to analyse the mechanisms of drug action.

Appreciate:

• the importance of rational, critical and independent thought in pharmacological sciences.

Content:

Principles of drug action: physiological and biochemical basis of drug action; sites of drug action; mechanisms of drug action; drug receptors; absorption, distribution and elimination of drugs in the body; interaction of drugs with the nervous system; interaction of drugs with hormones and local hormones; pharmacology of groups of drugs used to treat disease; new drug development: drugs from nature, chemical synthesis; drug testing; drug abuse; mechanisms of drug dependence. Toxicology: environmental contaminants; selective toxicity; venoms and toxins; pharmacological aspects of nutrition.

Assessment: