Pharmacology is the branch of biology related to the study of drug action, where a drug can be broadly defined as any natural or endogenous (body) molecule that exerts a biochemical or physiological effect on the cell, tissue, organ or organism (sometimes the word pharmacology is used as a term to cover these endogenous and exogenous bioactive species). More specifically, it is the study of interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function. If the substances have medicinal properties, they are considered pharmaceuticals.
The field comprises drug composition and properties, drug synthesis and design, molecular and cellular mechanisms, organ / system mechanisms, signal transduction / cellular communication, molecular diagnostics, interactions, toxicology, chemical biology, therapy and medical applications and antipathogenic properties. The two major areas of pharmacology are pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Pharmacodynamics studies the effects of a drug in biological systems, and pharmacokinetics studies the effects of biological systems on a drug. In general terms, pharmacodynamics discusses chemicals with biological receptors, and pharmacokinetics discusses the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) of the chemicals in biological systems. Pharmacology is not synonymous with pharmacy and the two terms are often confused. Pharmacology, a biomedical science, deals with the research, discovery and characterization of chemicals that show biological effects and elucidation of cellular and organismal function in relation to these chemicals. In contrast, pharmacy, a health care profession, deals with the application of the principles learned from pharmacology in its clinical setting; either in a dispensing role or clinical care. In both fields, the main contrast between the two are their distinctions between direct patient care, pharmaceutical practice and the field of science-oriented research, driven by pharmacology.
Themes
Topics from the past course offerings have included:
• The use of hormone replacement in postmenopausal women
• Antibodies as clinically useful drugs
• Drugs that improve performance: steroids through Adderall
• Vioxx & Celebrex: Mismanaging or Surviving a Potential Drug Retreat
• Thalidomide: an exiled drug returns
• Drug shortages: Causes and outcomes
• Rogaine and Viagra: Medications with different uses than originally intended
• Delalutin: Preventing Miscarriage - How Much Does It Cost?
• SSRIs: Do Antidepressant Drugs Cause Suicide?
• Electronic Cigarettes: A New Way to Manage Nicotine