OVERVIEW

Pharmacology studies drugs, their qualitative and quantitative interactions with the living organism, and the mechanisms of action underlying their therapeutic effects, clinical uses and adverse effects. General Pharmacology is structured into two major branches: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Provide adequate basic knowledge on the interactions of exogenous molecules (drugs etc.) and endogenous molecules present at the level of biological systems (enzymes, receptors etc.).Goals include basic knowledge about the functional effects and the impact of the aforementioned interactions on the biological systems.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Aims: the course want to provide 1) basic knowledge of the mechanisms of action for drugs considering the clinical use, 2) a general understanding of the pharmacokinetic properties, 3) 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.

 Learning outcomes: the student should demonstrate knowledge of the meaning of drug, drug target, drug-related effects; he/she should remember the mechanisms of action of drugs, routes of drug administration and elements of pharmacokinetics and drug response variability. The student will have to demonstrate the ability to draw and obtain information from dose-response curves (for agonists, partial agonists and antagonists) and kinetics curves as well as being able to apply the general concepts of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics to molecules belonging to specific drug classes.

PREREQUISITES

see "MANIFESTO DEGLI STUDI"

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 et al – Principi di farmacologia – Casa Editrice Ambrosiana
• Goodman & Gilmans – Le basi farmacologiche della terapia – McGraw-Hill
• Govoni et al –  Farmacologia –  CEA (seconda edizione 2023)
• Rang HP et al –   Farmacologia –  Elsevier-Masson S.r.l. (sesta edizione - 2008)

 Slides from lectures (downloading from Aula WEB)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

CHIARA CERVETTO (President)

TIZIANA BONIFACINO

MASSIMO GRILLI

GUENDALINA OLIVERO

MANUELA MARCOLI (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

For lessons start and timetable go to the link: https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti/

Please check the module Aulaweb page for timetable updates.

Class schedule

PHARMACOLOGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination method for assessing the student's achievement of the set objectives will take the form of an oral examination (approximately 30 minutes).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The committee will verify the achievement of the module's training objectives with a high degree of accuracy by asking many questions relating to the programme actually carried out during the lectures.

With regard to the assessment of the achievement of training objectives on pharmacokinetics, the student must demonstrate knowledge of the kinetic properties (time-of-action) of drugs, also considering the routes of administration and the different phases: absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.

With regard to the assessment of the achievement of training objectives on mechanistic aspects, the student will have to demonstrate knowledge of molecular targets and the effects resulting from the interaction of these with the xenobiotic,

For the final evaluation, the committee will assess the following aspects: level of knowledge of the topics covered by the questions, exposition skills as well as the ability to link and reason with other topics in the programme. If the learning objectives are not met, the student will be invited to check his or her knowledge in more detail and, if necessary, to seek further explanations by contacting the lecturer.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Course attendance is recommended.

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 Sara Ferrando (sara.ferrando@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison