Dictionary of pharmacology

From WikiMD's Food, Medicine & Wellness Encyclopedia

Pharmacology is the branch of medicine concerned with the discovery, chemistry, composition, effects, and uses of drugs. It is a critical area of study and research for understanding how therapeutic agents interact with biological systems. This dictionary serves as a resource for terms commonly used in pharmacology, providing definitions and context for each.

Introduction[edit | edit source]

Pharmacology encompasses various disciplines, including pharmacokinetics (what the body does to a drug) and pharmacodynamics (what the drug does to the body). This dictionary will provide a compendium of terms that are essential for students, healthcare professionals, and researchers in the field of pharmacology.

Scope[edit | edit source]

The dictionary aims to cover terms across several categories, including but not limited to:

  • Drug classification - Categories of drugs based on their chemical structure or therapeutic use.
  • Pharmacokinetics - Processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs.
  • Pharmacodynamics - Mechanisms of drug action and the relationship between drug concentration and effect.
  • Pharmacogenomics - The study of the role of genetics in drug response.
  • Toxicology - The study of the harmful effects of substances on living organisms.

Dictionary Entries[edit | edit source]

Below are selected entries from the Dictionary of Pharmacology, representing a fraction of the extensive vocabulary used in the field:

A drug that relieves pain. This category includes various classes of drugs, each with different mechanisms of action, such as opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
The proportion of a drug that enters the circulation when introduced into the body and so is able to have an active effect.
A family of isoenzymes responsible for the biotransformation of several drugs and endogenous substances. Variations in P450 activity can significantly affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of certain drugs.
  • EC50 - The concentration of a drug that gives half the maximal response. This value is used to compare the potencies of drugs where higher potency corresponds to a lower EC50.
  • Half-Life - The time required for the concentration of the drug in the bloodstream to reduce by half. It is a measure of how quickly a drug is eliminated from the body.
  • Ligand - Any substance that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose. In pharmacology, a ligand can be a drug that binds to receptors.
  • Receptor - A protein molecule that receives chemical signals from outside a cell. When such chemical signals bind to a receptor, they cause some form of cellular/tissue response.
  • Xenobiotic - A chemical substance that is foreign to the biological system. It includes drugs, compounds in food, and environmental agents.

Using the Dictionary[edit | edit source]

To use this dictionary, readers can click on the terms listed in the contents or use the search function to find definitions and detailed information. Each term may include the following sections:

  • Definition
  • Mechanism of Action
  • Clinical Use
  • Adverse Effects
  • Drug Interactions

Also see[edit | edit source]

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Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD