According to its etymology, the word Pharmacology comes from the Greeks "Pharmacon" which means "Drug" and "Logos" which means "Science". Before continuing, it is necessary to briefly define what a drug is, it is therefore a chemical substance, highly synthesized in order to reduce some characteristic ailment of a disease. The drugs are widely diversified, established since prehistoric times and with a purely natural background, drugs are the cure for diseases and represent a great advance in current science and technology. Each study has been an important impetus to find cures for various diseases.
What is pharmacology
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As mentioned previously, the concept of pharmacology is completely linked to the study of chemical organisms that can be used in a living being, so that it can be aware of the effect that the drug generates in the body of an individual object of scientific study, see the biochemical changes that it may present throughout the evaluation, note the various mechanisms of absorption, biotransformation, action, distribution and finally excretion that are present in the subject's system.
In a broader definition of pharmacology, this science is about the complete and exhaustive study of drugs, regardless of whether they have toxic or beneficial purposes.
This really is a specific science that is responsible for evaluating and studying the origin of chemical and physical components that have contact with living organisms within the nervous system not only of a human being, but of the rest of the living beings on earth.
Its purpose is to study each chemical and physical reaction of the products previously created, tested and used in a living organism with specific anomalies, so that a cure for one or more diseases can be found.
With this, it can be made quite clear what pharmacology is at fairly general levels, however, it is important to note that like all science, pharmacology has a series of objects and branches that will be explained throughout this content.
The concept of pharmacology has a quite particular historical genesis, taking into account that its application is technically only valid when it comes to diagnosing a disease, carrying out treatment to cope with or eradicate it and for the prevention of many other common conditions in the world. They are generally used to relieve symptoms and ailments.
History of pharmacology
Man has had the need to find a cure for pain that it presents since ancient times and despite the fact that pharmacology is one of the youngest sciences in the world, its application and study has been present for many years. Since man began to have conscience, one of his main objectives has been survival, to achieve this, it was imperative to stay healthy, that is why the figure of primitive doctors began to emerge, called witches, shamans and healers. Even in times when science and technology did not exist, these subjects looked for herbs to transform them into effective remedies in the human body.
They had to study each reaction that they had in the patient's body, what were the benefits, analyze if some herbs were for medicinal use or if they were toxic… They complied with each and every one of the elements that define what pharmacology is in the present.
The history of pharmacology is long, long and full of discoveries that were initially accidental and that, with the passage of time, turned out to be the most fantastic advances in the field. Each civilization settled in different regions of the world made huge contributions in pharmacology. The cultures and traditions marked a before and after in this science.
Object of study
Substances, whether chemical or physical, that have any contact with living organisms, are naturally absorbed and distributed by the organs that make up the human or animal body, then they are modified by a series of processes called chemicals and, finally, they are expelled of the organism.
All this can be determined because the main objective of pharmacology is to know all the processes that intervene in the interaction of these substances with the system of living organisms, so that the patient can benefit with exact diagnoses and follow up on the affection that it possesses.
Biochemical effects
Each interaction process has a specific concept and is studied within pharmacokinetics. With it, it is possible to evaluate the bioavailability of the drug within the organism of the living being and the life time that it will have to attack the target to be treated.
The correct way for the drug to perform its functions is through the circulation of the blood and, for this to occur, it needs 4 key elements of pharmacology: absorption, distribution, biotransformation (also known as metabolism) and excretion. Each of them with specific objectives.
Absorption is based on the way the drug has been delivered so that it can reach the patient's circulatory system. Administration of the drug can be oral, muscular, rectal, respiratory, subcutaneous, cutaneous, sublingual, ophthalmic, and intravenous.
Once the product makes contact with the body, the action count is taken, that is, how long it takes the body to absorb the medicine. This generally falls within the field of nursing, which is why nursing pharmacology is so important, since it is these professionals who are in charge of administering drugs in clinics and hospitals.
Distribution, as its name implies, is the division of the drug by all the organs of the body, redirecting it so that it has the desired effect according to the molecular composition of the drug, weight, Ph, electrical charge, the capacity that it it has to fuse or join proteins and the solubility that it has between each of the compartments and organs of the body. When it is distributed, it is evaluated if the drug has had an increase in concentration or if, on the contrary, it has decreased due to the lapse of time that has been taken between the tissues, organs and anatomical compartments.
On the other hand, there is metabolism or as it is scientifically known, biotransformation. All drugs undergo a kind of transformation because the enzymes have a certain action. Biotransformation can be due to degradation, which consists of hydrolysis, oxidation and reduction in which the drug can lose a good part of its structure or directly in the conjugation of new substances that bind to the drug as a fully molecule new.
With biotransformation, the drug can reach a partial or even total inactivity in the body, so its effects can be affected by reduction or, in other cases, by increase.
Finally, there is excretion, which is nothing more than the expulsion of the drug from the body through excretory organs such as the skin, kidneys, liver, lacrimal and salivary glands.
Once the drug has been absorbed and distributed, it becomes a water-soluble substance that can be directed to the circulation, in this way it reaches the excretory organs and is eliminated through their specific processes, for example, if it reaches the kidneys, it leaves of the system through urine. Now, there are cases in which the drug is fat soluble and cannot pass through the kidney routes. It then passes through the bile, reaches the large intestine and is expelled in the stool.
Physiological effects
In this regard, pharmacology not only studies the changes generated in the nervous system due to the consumption of the drug, but also the method of exit or expulsion of the drug. The effect of the drugs is evaluated according to the variables presented by each element previously explained, so the rate and level of drug absorption are taken into account according to its application, the rate and distribution taking into account the tissues. and body fluids, the rate of active or inactive biotransformation and, finally, the rate of expulsion or excretion.
Although drugs help prevent and fight diseases, their excessive use can cause severe damage to the nervous and endocrine systems of the patient. The discipline makes a special follow-up to the subject's bodily response, just as it does with the biochemical effects previously explained. This aspect is closely related to Neuropharmacology.
"> Loading…Branches of pharmacology
Like all science, pharmacology is made up of a series of branches that make it applicable in various disciplines or auxiliary studies thereof. The processes are divided according to the appropriate aspects of each study and each one has its degree of importance and difficulty.
Pharmacodynamics
This discipline is in charge of evaluating the mode of action that drugs have at the time of being ingested, that is, it directly studies the reaction that the body takes once the drug has made contact with it, thus evaluating the physiological and biochemical changes of the body system of the patient.
Pharmacodynamics can be studied from different points of view, it can be cellular, molecular, organ and tissue or directly to the whole body through in vitro, post mortem or in vivo techniques.
It is also responsible for evaluating and analyzing the interactions that the drug has with the natural substances of a body.
Pharmacokinetics
This is responsible for studying the processes to which the drug is exposed once it has entered the patient's body. From a more general point of view, pharmacokinetics aims to discover what happens to the drug from the moment it is administered until its excretion, so that various study techniques are used that can monitor the steps and drug distribution processes. It is in this aspect where absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion play a leading role, since it is thanks to these elements that it is possible to discover what happens with the drug.
"> Loading…Therapeutic pharmacology
The experts and scholars of this branch call it clinical pharmacology and its purpose is to study the therapeutic impact on the effects of pharmacology, which includes not only the benefits that these can provide to the patient's body, but also its risks.
It also has one more objective and that is the overall cost that a therapist's intervention equates to. To achieve the evaluation of this aspect, medical, pharmacological and epidemiological knowledge is needed. This is a purely healthcare science, so the pharmacologist needs extensive clinical information, this is obtained by studying the career and reading a variety of pharmacology books.
Neuropharmacology
This is a very important aspect because its study is based on evaluating the ways or ways in which drugs and medications affect the brain system of a patient and this is nothing more in specific terms, in fact, it is quite general.
These are the various drugs that they can consume and the effect they generate on the cells of the patient's nervous system, exposing the behavior that the individual adopts after a certain time of taking drugs. Neuropharmacology has two branches that motivate it to have a broader scope: Behavioral neuropharmacology and molecular neuropharmacology.
Molecular pharmacology
It is the study of neuronal molecules, how they behave when various drugs enter the body, their interactions and neurochemical reactions, in this way, pharmacologists can develop new drugs that can attack brain and neurological conditions such as pain, psychological problems, neurodegenerative diseases.
Unlike behavioral neuropharmacology, which is based on the study of human behavior towards drugs, that is, their addictions and dependencies that affect the brain and mind, molecular pharmacology is based on the impact that drugs have at the neuronal level.
Study pharmacology
Currently there are many people who depend on drugs due to suffering from various diseases that abound in the world or simply to avoid being infected with viruses, precisely for that reason the institutions that offer pharmacology as a career have multiplied, thus building faculties or a department of special pharmacology so that students have a place to educate themselves and learn everything related to this broad and wonderful science that has helped hundreds of thousands of people.
Like any career, pharmacology has its degree of difficulty, it takes time, motivation and dedication to achieve a university degree.
It is important to get to study this science because without it, doctors would not have a way to eradicate diseases, they would not even be able to know what condition is damaging the health of their patients. For a doctor to prescribe one or more special medicines, he must be completely sure of the diagnosis and the type of medicine to be administered and none of this could be carried out without the existence of pharmacology and, therefore, without a pharmacologist of through, because it is that professional who evaluates the reaction of the drug in the body and gives the reports to the doctors.
In this way, they can use that knowledge and heal the people in their care. Studying pharmacology requires an exceptional memory, this is because each student must not only memorize the names of the drugs, but also what they are for, their effects and contraindications. But in addition, knowledge of medicine, chemistry and even biomedical sciences is needed, so these and other subjects are found, thus leaving a fairly broad career for study.
