Terminologies in PharmacologyCHAPTER 1

PHARMACOLOGY is the science that deals with study of drugs and their action on living organisms. It consists of detailed study of drugs, including their actions on animals and humans. The actions may be beneficial or harmful and based on that the drugs are being used clinically.

Pharmacology is combination of two words:

The name is derived from Drogue, a French word (means Dry herb). The name is derived from the fact that most of the drugs earlier were obtained by drying plant or animal parts. That has become so true today as the world is again looking at the need to explore more of the traditional or plant-based chemicals for therapeutics.

Drug has been defined as any chemical substance which is used for prevention, treatment or diagnosis of a disease.

Pharmacology has expanded to much wider areas, so now it has a number of branches or subdivisions.4

It is the art of preparing, compounding and dispensing drugs in such a way so as to make the medication suitable for easy, effective and palatable administration in the treatment of a disease. However, as the drugs are being prepared by pharmaceutical industry synthetically at large scale, the process has become totally technology based.

It is the study of drugs in animals. It usually involves research on animals using drugs.

It is the scientific study of drugs in human being. It includes clinical trials/studies of new drugs in human beings, identifying and reporting adverse drug reactions, rational drug use and essential drug concept. This area of pharmacology is most demanding these days. With the shift of a number of clinical trials of new drugs to India, the training, demand and recruitment has increased tremendously in clinical pharmacology.

It deals with patient care with particular emphasis on drug therapy. In practice, it is patient oriented and includes not only the dispensing of required drug but also giving advice to the patient on the proper use of all drugs, both prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. It usually utilizes the services of a pharmacist as an information source for members of the medical and other health professions on all matters pertaining to drugs and their dosage forms. This practice is quite common and also mandatory in developed countries. In India, it has just started in few metropolitan cities. A number of good pharmacy stores have come up in major cities in India, which are following all aspects of clinical pharmacy.

It deals with study of actions of drugs at molecular level.

It is the study of action of drugs on the body (what the drug does to the body).

It is the study of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of drugs (what the body does to the drug).

It is the study of identification of source and physical properties of natural medicinal substances, i.e. drugs obtained from plants.

It is a branch of medicine concerned with the cure of disease or relief of symptoms using drugs. (It deals with the use of drugs in clinical practice). It is also called drug therapy or pharmacotherapy.

A poison is a substance which when absorbed or ingested into the body may alter physiology to a mild or a critical extent by damaging body tissues or cells.

It is the science of poisons dealing with their detection, measurement and management of poisons. (Poisons are substances that cause harmful, dangerous or fatal symptoms in animals and human beings).5

It is an adjective which means pertaining to pharmacy. It deals in technique of calculation, preparation and dispensing required dosage forms.

It is the application of organic and inorganic chemistry to pharmaceutics and relation of these principles to drug use.

It involves the cost of drug therapy, including those of purchasing, dispensing (e.g. salaries of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians), storage, administration (e.g. salaries of nurses, costs of supplies), laboratory, other tests used to monitor client responses and losses from expiration. Length of illness or hospitalization is also considered.

It involves adverse drug event monitoring, detection, reporting and remedial measures.

The changes in the drug metabolism due to genetic variations in the expression of enzymatic biotransformation.

At the end of this session a student shall be able to: