Pharmacology Basic Principles

Any chemical that affects living processes

The study of drugs and their interactions with living systems

The study of drugs in humans

The use of drugs to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease or to  prevent pregnancy

study of how genes affect individual drug responses

a group of s/sx and/or characteristic effects associated with exposure to a particular substance or class of substances

• Administration
• Pharmacokinetics
• Pharmacodynamics
• Individual variations

• Route
• Timing
• Dosage

• Parenteral
• Enteral
• Topical

• Absorption - get in
• Distribution - get around
• Metabolism - get to work
• Excretion - get out

• Cell membrane
• Ligand-gated Ion Channels
• G-Protein coupled receptor
• Transcription

• Rate of dissolution - how fast the drug dissolves
• Surface area - larger surface area means faster absorption
• Blood flow - more flow is better
• Lipid solubility - high lipid solubility is absorbed faster
• pH partitioning - absorption will be enhanced when the difference between the pH of plasma and the pH at the site of administration is such that drug molecules will have a greater tendency to be ionized in the plasma