Scope and Branches of Pharmacology

Scope and Branches of Pharmacology

Scope of Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the science which involves all aspects of the action of drugs on living system. It is the study of the therapeutic value and/or potential toxicity of chemical agents on biological systems. It targets every aspect of the mechanisms for the chemical actions of both traditional and novel therapeutic agents.

Important and interrelated areas are: pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics.

Pharmacodynamics is the study of how drugs act on the body while pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body acts on drugs. Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects of the action of chemical agents are applicable to all related areas of study, including toxicology and therapeutics.

Toxicology is the study of the adverse or toxic effects of drugs and other chemical agents. It is concerned both with drugs used in the treatment of disease and chemicals that may present household, environmental, or industrial hazards.

Therapeutics focuses on the actions and effects of drugs and other chemical agents with physiological, biochemical, microbiological, immunological, or behavioral factors influencing disease. Each of these areas is closely interwoven with the subject matter and experimental techniques of physiology, biochemistry, cellular biology, microbiology, immunology, genetics, and pathology. The ultimate goal of Pharmacology is to design chemical agents to cure , ameliorate, or prevent disease.

Branches of Pharmacology

Neuropharmacology

Neuropharmacology is the study of neurophysiological or neurobiochemical functions of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, and the nerves that are modified by drug action.

Cardiovascular pharmacology

Cardiovascular pharmacology concerns the effects of drugs on the heart, the vascular system, and those parts of the nervous and endocrine systems that participate in regulating cardiovascular function.

Molecular pharmacology

Molecular pharmacology deals with the biochemical and biophysical characteristics of interactions between drug molecules and those of the cell. It is molecular biology applied to pharmacology and toxicology.

Biochemical pharmacology

Biochemical pharmacology is the study of action of drugs and drug metabolism, how drugs interact with, and influences, the physiology of the organism.

Behavioral pharmacology

Behavioral pharmacology studies the effects of drugs on behavior of organism. It includes topics such as the effects of psychoactive drugs on the phenomena of learning, memory, wakefulness, sleep and the behavioral consequences of experimental intervention in enzyme activity and brain neurotransmitter levels and metabolism.

Endocrine pharmacology

Endocrine pharmacology is the study of drugs that are either hormones or hormone derivatives, or drugs that may modify the sections of normally secreted hormones.

Clinical pharmacology

Clinical pharmacology is the application of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics to patients with diseases, it also includes pharmacogenetic component. Clinical pharmacologists study how drugs work, how they interact with the genome and with other drugs, how their effects can alter the disease process, and how disease can alter their effects. Clinical trial design, the prevention of medication errors, and the optimization of rational prescribing are critical components of clinical pharmacology.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the area of pharmacology that deals with drugs used for the treatment of microbial infections and malignancies. Chemotherapeutic agents selectively inhibit the growth of, or kill, the infectious agent or cancer cell without seriously impairing the normal functions of the host.

Toxicology

Toxicology is the science of adverse effects of chemicals/ drugs on living systems. It also includes problems of drug safety, effects of drug over dosage.