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.
- Drug distribution 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 induction and inhibition, 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, hepatic, pulmonary) 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.
- Drugs containing carbohydrates: manna, gum Arabic, guar gum, psyllium, alginic acid, agar agar, carrageenan, althaea officinalis, malva, linum, tilia, cassia fistula, tamarindus.
- Drugs containing fatty acids: linum, olea europaea, prunun dulcis and ricinus oils.
- Drugs containing saponins: smilax, panax ginseng, polygala, hyppocastanum, quillaja, glycirrhiza.
- Drugs containing active steroid compounds: digitalis purpurea, digitalis lanata, strophantus, drimia maritime.
- Drugs 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.
- Drugs containing active phenolic and polyphenolic compounds: aloe, cascara sagrada, frangula, rhubarb, senna, ginkgo, hypericum, uva ursi, salix, gall nuts of Aleppo, hamamelis.
- Drugs 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.
- Drugs containing active antitumor compounds: vinca rosea, podophyllum,
taxus, colchicum.
- Drugs containing active hallucinogenic compounds: peyote, psilocybe, amanita muscaria.