Pharmacology of Anemia

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, Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to

 Define anemia

 Differentiate the different types of anemia

 Describe the clinical presentations of anemia

 Describe the pharmacotherapeutics basis of managing
anemia

 Describe the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effect
of antianemic drugs

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, Introduction to Hematopoietic

• Hematopoietic machinery resides primarily in the bone

marrow in adults

• The process requires a constant supply of three essential

nutrients—iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid

– Also the presence of hematopoietic growth factor proteins

 regulate the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells.

• Inadequate supplies of the essential nutrients and the growth
factors  result in deficiency of functional blood cells.
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, Anemia
• Anemia is a group of diseases characterized by a decrease
in either Hb or RBCs

 Resulting in reduced oxygen carrying capacity of the
blood.

• Anemias can result from :

Inadequate RBC production

Increased RBC destruction, or

Blood loss
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