GENERAL PHARMACOLOGY
Branches of Pharmacology.
Definition and classification of drugs: medicament; poison (or toxic); causal or etiological, pathogenetic, symptomatic, replacement drugs; orphan drugs.
Origin and nature of the drugs: drug from natural origin, drug from partial chemical synthesis, drug derived from chemical synthesis.
Selective toxicity.
Drug action: sites of drug action (local, regional, systemic); factors and conditions affecting drug effect (related to drug, to formulation, to patient, to environment); (main or therapeutic, secondary and side) drug effects.
Pharmacodynamic concepts: definition, classification and regulation of receptors; agonists, antagonists, partial agonists, inverse agonists; definition of affinity, potency and efficacy; graded and quantal dose-response curves; therapeutic index, margin of safety, therapeutic window.
Pharmacokinetics: drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
Drug absorption: transfer of drugs across biological membranes (passive diffusion, carrier-mediated transport, endocytosis, exocytosis); Henderson-Hasselbach equation; routes of drug administration (natural and artificial), factors affecting drug absorption (related to drug, to formulation, to patient); delayed absorption.
Distribution of drugs in the body: drug binding to plasma proteins and tissue; blood-brain barrier; placental barrier; factors affecting drug distribution.
Drug metabolism or biotransformation: phase I and phase II reactions; first-pass effect; factors affecting drug metabolism (enzyme inhibition and induction, genetic polymorphism, disease, age, gender).
Drug excretion: primary and secondary routes of drug excretion; factors affecting drug excretion.
Pharmacokinetic parameters: bioavailability and bioequivalence; volume of distribution; one- and multicompartment models; (total, renal, pulmonary, hepatic) clearance; first and zero order elimination kinetics; extraction ratio; elimination half-life; drug accumulation; steady-state; loading dose, maintenance dose, therapeutic drug monitoring, drug dosage in children and elderly.
Adverse drug reactions: type A and type B; idiosyncratic drug reactions; drug allergy; tolerance; tachyphylaxis; drug dependence; withdrawal syndrome; phototoxicity.
Combination therapy: drug indifference; (physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic) drug interactions
Drug development: toxicological animal testing (acute, subacute and chronic toxicity, effects on reproduction, carcinogenic and mutagenic potential); clinical testing (phases I, II, III, IV).
PHARMACOGNOSY
Instability in active compound concentration: endogenous and exogenous factors.
Production and preservation of drugs: drying, stabilization, sterilization; chemical analysis and quality control.
Plant materials containing carbohydrates: manna, gum Arabic, guar gum, psyllium, alginic acid, agar agar, carrageenan, althaea officinalis, malva, linum, tilia, cassia fistula, tamarindus.
Plant materials containing fatty acids: linum, olea europaea, prunun dulcis and ricinus oils.
Plant materials containing saponins: smilax, panax ginseng, polygala, hyppocastanum, quillaja, glycirrhiza.
Plant materials containing active steroid compounds: digitalis purpurea, digitalis lanata, strophantus, drimia maritime.
Plant materials containing essences and resins: citrus aurantium, a. absinthium, a. cina, matricaria recutita, valeriana officinalis, menthe piperita, Melissa officinalis, arnica montana, pinus oilresin, canphora, anisum, foeniculum, acorus calamus, cinnamom, eugenia cariophyllata, thymus, cannabis sativa.
Plant materials containing active phenolic and polyphenolic compounds: aloe, cascara sagrada, frangula, rhubarb, senna, ginkgo, hypericum, uva ursi, salix, gall nuts of Aleppo, hamamelis.
Plant materials containing alkaloids: aconitum, belladonna, hyosciamus, stramonium, coca, jaborandi, hydrastis, boldo, ipecac, curare, rauwolfia, yohimbe, physostigma venenosum, nux vomica, claviceps purpurea, cinchona, betel nut, tobacco, conium, lobelia, cocoa, coffea arabica, cola vera, thea sinensis, mate, guarana, ephedra.
Plant materials containing active antitumor compounds: vinca rosea, podophyllum, taxus, colchicum.
Plant materials containing active hallucinogenic compounds: peyote, psilocybe, amanita muscaria.
