OVERVIEW

The course of General Pharmacology is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge of the drug and, in particular, of the interactions that occurs between chemicals and the living organism and that determine the therapeutic effects but also toxicological events.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge of the pharmacokinetic (time-action) properties of drugs, including rates of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. Knowledge of the pharmacodynamic principles of drug action including: receptors, dose-response curves, biochemical and physiological effects of drugs and the molecular mechanisms by which these effects are produced. Explore the pharmacological concepts and effects / side effects of certain drug classes.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Pharmacological module aims to provide basic knowledge of the mechanisms of action for drugs and in modern toxicology; it aims to provide a general understanding of the pharmacokinetic properties, and the evaluation of the safety of a drug in order that students acquire knowledge of general pharmacology and understand the variability of responses. The teacher intends to work on basic functional alphabetic, personal and social skills.

At the end of the course, the student will have to

- remember the mechanisms of action of drugs, pharmacokinetic parameters, reactions implicated in the drug metabolization, routes of administration and elimination of drugs, factors influencing the distribution of a drug in the body, therapeutic uses and potential adverse reactions for the classes of drugs discussed 

- demonstrate the ability in the use of data deriving from toxicological and pharmacological tests to evaluate the safety of a drug

- analyze a dose-response curve for an agonist and partial agonist in the absence or presence of antagonists.

TEACHING METHODS

The didactic modality foresees frontal lessons with insights related to the program.  Specific topics will be introduced through icebreaker activities. The peer education and peer evaluation methods could also be used to allow students to actively learn and acquire the ability to communicate effectively using appropriate terms; these activities could be carried out in pairs, in groups or alone, and may require the creation of a final presentation to the class. The student would receive feedback from the teacher and/or from the other classmates, and a debate could be sparked in the classroom. To improve the ability to use data deriving from toxicological and pharmacological tests to evaluate drug safety, and the ability to describe the dose-response relationships, during the lessons exercises will be carried out using data present in the literature. To facilitate the achievement of learning outcomes, attendance of lessons is recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

-Essential lexicon in Pharmacology: active substances (drugs; medicinal preparations; medicinal herbs; placebo), drug classes.

-Pharmacological Disciplines: general and cellular pharmacology; pharmacognosy; clinical pharmacology; pharmacoeconomics; pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics; pharmacovigilance; chemotherapy; toxicology.

-Drug discovery and development. Generic and orphan drugs.

- Basic Pharmacodynamics: quantification of drug-receptor interactions and responses; Affinity, Potency and Efficacy; Drug-receptor binding site. Mechanisms of drug action and the relationship between drug concentration and effect: target and action of the drug not mediated by receptors, receptor occupancy and competition, agonist and antagonist, allosteric modulator, partial agonist.

Pharmacological targets: A) Receptors and modulation of their responses. Receptor classification, pathway and signalling transduction: intracellular/nuclear receptors; membrane receptors (ionotropic and G-protein coupled receptors); receptor responses (desensitization and sensitization); drug modulation of receptor responses.  i) Ionotropic receptors. Tissue and subcellular distribution; molecular organization; channel structure; localization of binding sites; glutamatergic ionotropic receptors; nicotinic receptor and GABAA receptor. ii) G-protein coupled receptors. Molecular organization and signal transduction pathways (the cAMP signal pathway and the phosphatidylinositol signal pathway). GPCRs for glutamate, dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine. B) Voltage-dependent ion channels: pharmacological tools for sodium and calcium channels. C) membrane and vesicular transporters: amphetamines and cocaine mechanisms of action. D) enzymes: acetylcholinesterase and COX

-Basic Pharmacokinetics: -Absorption and routes of drug administration: enteral routes (oral, sublingual, rectal); parenteral systemic routes (intravascular, intramuscular; cutaneous); other routes (inhalation, transdermal, transmucosal, intracavity). Partition coefficient; drug dissolution; extension, permeability and vascularization of absorption surface. -Drug distribution and elimination: the apparent distribution volume; drug binding to plasma proteins; free and bound drug concentration; relevant parameters in drug distribution. -Elimination and the concept of half-life; renal excretion and clearance; hepatic excretion and enterohepatic cycle. -Drug metabolism: enzymatic systems and phase I and II modifications (cytochrome P450; oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis; methylation; sulphation; acetylation; glucuronidation; conjugation with amino acids or glutathione).

- Individual variation in the drug response. Tolerance. Side-effects. Idiosyncratic and allergic reactions.  Drug addition.

- General Anesthetics; Agents for control of gastric acidity and treatment of peptic ulcers; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).

- Basic elements of Toxicology. Toxicological tests, acute and chronic toxicity. Drug safety.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Golan DE e altri - Principi di Farmacologia – Casa Editrice Ambrosiana

Rang HP, Dale MM, RitterJM, Flower RJ - Farmacologia - Ed. Elsevier Masson

Howland RD, Mycek MJ – Le basi della farmacologia – Ed Zanichelli

Notes of Lessons

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LAURA VERGANI (President)

MANUELA MARCOLI

CHIARA CERVETTO (President Substitute)

ADRIANA VOCI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

From March 4, 2025

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The evaluation of the student relative to Pharmacology can only take place at the same time as the one relating to the General Physiology.  Only in case of positive results for both evaluations the examination will be passed.

The examination will be an oral exam (30 minutes per module, always in presence of the Commission consisting of at least of two lecturers (or sometimes in presence of a lecturer and an expert subject designated by the CCS). 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The Commission will verify the achievement of educational objectives with high accuracy collecting information about the nature and extent of learning outcomes, capacity as well as connection and reasoning within topics of the module. When the educational objectives will be not achieved, the Student will be invited to verify better the knowledge and possibly to use supplemental explanations contacting the lecturer.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Sergio Di Domizio (sergio.didomizio@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.