Questions with Complete Solutions
2026 Updated.
Pharmacology - Answer Scientific discipline that investigates the interactions between living
organisms and drugs.
What are the two reciprocal aspects of drug-body interactions? - Answer Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacodynamics
Drugs - Answer Chemical substances used in the treatment, cure, prevention or diagnosis of
disease used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.
Poisons - Answer Chemical substance that cause injury, illness or death in living organisms.
Toxicology - Answer A sub-discipline of pharmacology that investigates the adverse effects of
chemicals on living organisms.
The term "drug" refers to what? - Answer The active chemical compounds in complex plant
derived mixtures and extracts (e.g. alcohol is not the drug, ethyl-alcohol is the drug).
Chinese Medicine - Answer Ephedra sinica based medicines were used as stimulants to
improve labored breathing. The main active component is ephedrine.
Ephedrine - Answer Used for temporary relief of shortness of breath, chest tightness, and
wheezing due to bronchial asthma. Isolated in 1887.
Peruvian indians and Quinine - Answer Cinchona bark was used to treat fever. Active
component is quinine.
Quinine - Answer A medication used to prevent and treat malaria. Isolated in 1820.
Eastern Mediterranean and Opium - Answer Opium is an extract of the opium poppy. Most
potent drug in opium is morphine.
,Opium - Answer Highly addictive narcotic drug.
Morphine - Answer Narcotic pain medication. Isolated in 1806.
Codeine - Answer Pain medication-thought to be the most commonly used drug worldwide
today. Isolated in 1830.
Pre-Pharmacology "medical drugs" - Answer Were often ineffective and dangerous. Before
the 19th century, medications were typically mixtures of local plants, animal, and mineral
products.
Marketed without evidence of efficiency or understanding of potential harm.
Francois Magendie (1783-1855) - Answer Rejected theory-only based explanations for drugs
and their actions in favor of facts gathered through experimentation.
Established the value of experimental animals for testing and understanding drugs and
investigation of intravenous injection.
Claude Bernard (1813-1878) - Answer The founder of experimental medicine. Research on
curare and carbon monoxide poisoning pioneered the concept of investigating the mechanism
of action fro drugs in the body.
Bernard's thoughts on the scientific method - Answer (1) Goal is to discover new facts and
formulate new theories to explain disease and responses to drugs and poisons.
(2) Theories should try to explain a cause and effect relationship.
(3) Theories should be testable and continuously tested by experimentation.
(4) Observable reality is the only authority.
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) - Answer Extracts of willow and similar plants used to treat fever
and pain for >2000 years.
The active compounds in these plants are salicylate's that are chemically related to aspirin.
What category does aspirin fall under? - Answer Non-sterolidal anti-inflammatory drug
(NSAID).
Non-sterolidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) (1) - Answer Have common features:
(1) Anti-inflammatory effects: modification of the inflammatory reaction.
, Non-sterolidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) Analgesic Effect - Answer Analgesic Effect:
reduction or certain series of pain.
Non-sterolidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) Antipyretic Effect - Answer Antipyretic Effect:
knowing of raised temperature.
What happened in the 20th century? - Answer U.S. law transitioned medical practice to drugs
validated by scientific methods and pharmacology became the basis for drug approvals.
What is the role of pharmacology in the 21st century? - Answer It examines the interactions
between drugs and living organisms.
Plays an important role in the improvement and development of medicines.
What are the questions that pharmacology experiments try to answer? (5 of them) - Answer
What routes can be used to administer a drug?
How long does the drug last in the body?
What are the molecular targets of the drug?
What doses are effective to treat a medical condition?
What doses cause unacceptable side effects?
Benefits of laboratory based pre-clinical research in pharmacology (4 of them) - Answer
Pharmacologist has more control over the experimental subjects, human safety not a risk,
predicts safe and effective doses for humans, and leads to better drugs.
Celecoxib (Celebrex) - Answer (NSAID) Works by reducing hormones that cause inflammation
and pain in the body.
Clinical pharmacology - Answer The science of using drugs in humans.
Subjects must provide informed consent to be part of clinical research.
Seeks to understand the drug and how a drug should be used in medical practice.
The five questions of a clinical pharmacologist - Answer Is the drug safe?
Does the drug have medical benefit?
What's the right drug dose?
Does this drug interact with other drugs?
How does the body distribute and process the drug?