AREA: Biotechnology
Aims of the Course: To reach a good understanding of the basic concepts in general pharmacology and of some special areas of this discipline
Farmacologia, di Rang, Dale,Ritter, Flower, Casa EditriceElsevier, ultima edizione .
An english version of this book (the original) is available
-Farmacologia generale e molecolare, a cura di Clementi e Fumagalli, Casa editrice UTET, ultima edizione.
Learning Objectives
Aims of the Course: To reach a good understanding of the basic concepts in general pharmacology and of some special areas of this discipline.
To understand the mechanisms underlying the actions of drugs with a particular emphasis to the molecular aspects.
Prerequisites
The student must be familiar with biology, biochemistry and human physiology.
Teaching Methods
Lectures
Type of Assessment
Oral examinations
written examination (in English) are possible for students not proficient in Italian
Course program
Contents (detailed programme):
Targets of drugs. Receptors. Interactions between drug and receptors. Quantitative response to a drug. Dose-response curves. Efficacy and Potency of a drug; Agonists and antagonists. Various types of receptors: Ion Channels, G-Protein-coupled Receptors, Receptors regulating Nuclear transcription, Receptors associated with kinases. Additional targets of drug action: Enzymes, transporters, pumps. Absorption, distribution and destiny of a drug. Various routes of drug administration. Volume of distribution. Metabolism of a drug (Phase I and Phase II Reactions). Renal excretion of a drug. Renal clearance. Chemical mediators: Chemical transmission and the autonomous nervous system Neurotransmitters: general rules (Sympatic and parasympatic systems). Cholinergic and cathecolaminergic transmission (outlines to the physiology), Receptor Agonists and antagonists. 5-hydroxytryptamine (outlines of the physiology and of the receptor agonists and antagonists), histamine (outlines of the physiology and of the receptor agonists and antagonists). Eicosanoids (outlines of the physiology and of the receptor agonists and antagonists). Chemotherapy: Outline of chemotherapy of bacterial diseases. Chemotherapy of neoplastic diseases. Outline of the pathological aspects. Examples of anti-neoplastic drugs.