The course is aimed to describe the therapeutic activity of drugs in pathological conditions; in detail, the mechanism of action of each drug is explained, the possible interaction with specific membrane receptors or their subtypes or other targets that affect cellular responsiveness such as ion channels, second messengers, nuclear receptors etc.
The pharmacokinetic aspects of the therapeutic agents are described, their variability in relation to the dose and route of administration and the different employment in acute or chronic diseases. Finally, drug side effects or toxicity are described together with possible pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic interactions with other active preinciples. The pharmacological activity of an active principle is evaluated in the limits of a therapy or integrated with other therapeutic approaches to obtain a polytherapy that enhances dugs efficacy and reduces side-effects.
The course is addressed to supply students with the whole informations concerning actually available drugs, in order to understand thei therapeutic use on the basis of the mechanism of action, sede effects and interactions.