Pharmaceutical Science #310 - Exam 1
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What is pharmacology? - Answer - A scientific discipline that investigates the interactions between living
organisms and drugs
When did pharmacology as the primary way to understand drugs in Western Medicine begin? - Answer -
In the 19th Century
What are the two reciprocal aspects of drug-body interactions in pharmacology? - Answer -
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
What does the term Pharmacokinetics mean? - Answer - The study of what living things do to drugs
What does the term Pharmacodynamics mean? - Answer - The study of what drugs do to living things
What are drugs? - Answer - Chemical substances used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of
disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being
What is the complexity level of drugs? Give examples - Answer - They can vary greatly in complexity from
simple inorganic molecules (ex. lithium salts) to large and complex organic molecules like proteins (ex.
insulin)
When did humans begin using drugs? - Answer - Pre-dates the earliest historical records (and the field of
pharmacology)
What are poisons? - Answer - Chemical substances that cause injury, illness, or death in living organisms
,Can drugs act as poisons? - Answer - Yes, many drugs can act as poisons when the level of the drug in the
body exceeds a toxic threshold
What is toxicology? - Answer - A sub-discipline of pharmacology that investigates the adverse effects of
chemicals (the toxic properties) on living organisms
What prevalent recreational drugs became widespread commodities in the pre-pharmacology era? -
Answer - - Nicotine in Tobacco from the New World
- Caffeine in Coffee from Ethiopia, Tea from China & Cocoa from the New World
- Ethyl Alcohol in Beer and Wine from pre-history
*for the purposes of pharmacology, the term "drug" will refer to the active chemical compounds in
complex plant derived mixtures and extracts
What pre-pharmacology discoveries included successful drugs that are still useful in medicines today? -
Answer - - Chinese medicine
- Peruvian Indians and Quinine
- Eastern Mediterranean and Opium
What was the early Chinese medicine book called by Shen Nung and what year was it written? - Answer -
"The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic" in 2737 B.C.
How many medicines are listed in "The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic"? Are any of the medicines still
medicines today? - Answer - - 365 medicines all derived from natural sources (plants, animals, minerals)
- Yes, some are still used today but in refined forms
Traditional Chinese ephedra sinica was used as a what? And what was the active compound in it? -
Answer - - It was used as a stimulant to improve labored breathing
- The active compound was an alkaloid called ephedrine
Ephedrine and related compounds are currently used to relieve what? - Answer - Breathing problems
associated with asthma, colds and hay fever
,Peruvian Indian traditional medicine treated what? What did this medicine consist of? - Answer - It
treated fever using bark extracts from the cinchona tree
Europeans brought cinchona bark (with active ingredient quinine) from Peru to Europe where bark
extracts were used to successfully treat what from the 1600s onward? - Answer - Malaria
What is opium an extract from and what is it used for? - Answer - Opium is an extract of the opium
poppy and used for pain relief in the Eastern Mediterranean since pre-historical times
What is the most potent drug in opium? - Answer - Morphine (The benchmark for all pain relievers)
What two drugs derived from opium are on the World Heath Organization's list of essential medicines
that should be available throughout the world at all times? - Answer - Morphine and Codeine
What is the most commonly used drug worldwide? - Answer - Codeine
Before the 19th century medicinal drugs were typically mixtures of what? - Answer - Local (or exotic)
plant, animal, and mineral products
What other things made drugs before the 19th Century ineffective and/or dangerous? - Answer - - Often
compounded by a local apothecary, in the home, or by unregulated commercial interests
- Marketed/Used without evidence for efficacy or understanding of potential harms
- For most illnesses, spiritual-based healing was as popular and successful as available drugs
- Mass-market quackery was an increasing problem as the 19th century approached
What was a quack medicine? And what was an example of it? - Answer - A "cure-all" and an example was
19th century Daffy's elixir
What did Francois Magendie reject and what two things did he establish? - Answer - - He rejected
theory-only based explanations for drugs and their actions in favor of facts gathered through
experimentation
, - He established (for the public and other scientists) the value of experimental animals for testing and
understanding drugs
- He also established experimental approaches such as investigation of drugs by intravenous injection
that were widely adopted by other scientists
What parallel advances in other sciences facilitated 19th century pharmacology? - Answer - - Chemists
isolated active drug compounds from plant-based medicines (for example: morphine, quinine, codeine,
and ephedrine)
- New instruments were invented that aided investigation of the responses to drugs (for example: In
1828, mercury manometer used by Magendie to measure changes in blood pressure in response to
various drugs)
What is Claude Bernard credited for? What did his research pioneer and what did his writing articulate? -
Answer - - He is often credited as the founder of experimental medicine (field of creating and studying
disease in experimental model systems)
- His research on curare and carbon monoxide poisoning pioneered the concept of investigating the
mechanisms of action for drugs in the body
- His writing articulated clear scientific methods and principles for early investigators in the field of
pharmacology
What were Bernard's 4 thoughts on the scientific method? - Answer - 1) Goal is to discover new facts and
formulate new theories to explain diseases and the responses to drugs and poisons
2) Theories should try to explain cause and effect relationships
3) Theories should be testable and continuously tested by experimentation
4) Observable reality is the only authority an theories must be reformulated if contradicted by
experimentally observed facts
(the common practice was to rely on the authority of past physicians: Hippocrates, Galen, etc)
*from his book An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, 1865
What had been used to treat fever and pain for over 2000 years and what was the active compound in
these plants? When was the active chemicals isolated and studied? - Answer - Extracts of willow and
Solved 100% Correct Answers 2025
Save
What is pharmacology? - Answer - A scientific discipline that investigates the interactions between living
organisms and drugs
When did pharmacology as the primary way to understand drugs in Western Medicine begin? - Answer -
In the 19th Century
What are the two reciprocal aspects of drug-body interactions in pharmacology? - Answer -
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
What does the term Pharmacokinetics mean? - Answer - The study of what living things do to drugs
What does the term Pharmacodynamics mean? - Answer - The study of what drugs do to living things
What are drugs? - Answer - Chemical substances used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of
disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being
What is the complexity level of drugs? Give examples - Answer - They can vary greatly in complexity from
simple inorganic molecules (ex. lithium salts) to large and complex organic molecules like proteins (ex.
insulin)
When did humans begin using drugs? - Answer - Pre-dates the earliest historical records (and the field of
pharmacology)
What are poisons? - Answer - Chemical substances that cause injury, illness, or death in living organisms
,Can drugs act as poisons? - Answer - Yes, many drugs can act as poisons when the level of the drug in the
body exceeds a toxic threshold
What is toxicology? - Answer - A sub-discipline of pharmacology that investigates the adverse effects of
chemicals (the toxic properties) on living organisms
What prevalent recreational drugs became widespread commodities in the pre-pharmacology era? -
Answer - - Nicotine in Tobacco from the New World
- Caffeine in Coffee from Ethiopia, Tea from China & Cocoa from the New World
- Ethyl Alcohol in Beer and Wine from pre-history
*for the purposes of pharmacology, the term "drug" will refer to the active chemical compounds in
complex plant derived mixtures and extracts
What pre-pharmacology discoveries included successful drugs that are still useful in medicines today? -
Answer - - Chinese medicine
- Peruvian Indians and Quinine
- Eastern Mediterranean and Opium
What was the early Chinese medicine book called by Shen Nung and what year was it written? - Answer -
"The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic" in 2737 B.C.
How many medicines are listed in "The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic"? Are any of the medicines still
medicines today? - Answer - - 365 medicines all derived from natural sources (plants, animals, minerals)
- Yes, some are still used today but in refined forms
Traditional Chinese ephedra sinica was used as a what? And what was the active compound in it? -
Answer - - It was used as a stimulant to improve labored breathing
- The active compound was an alkaloid called ephedrine
Ephedrine and related compounds are currently used to relieve what? - Answer - Breathing problems
associated with asthma, colds and hay fever
,Peruvian Indian traditional medicine treated what? What did this medicine consist of? - Answer - It
treated fever using bark extracts from the cinchona tree
Europeans brought cinchona bark (with active ingredient quinine) from Peru to Europe where bark
extracts were used to successfully treat what from the 1600s onward? - Answer - Malaria
What is opium an extract from and what is it used for? - Answer - Opium is an extract of the opium
poppy and used for pain relief in the Eastern Mediterranean since pre-historical times
What is the most potent drug in opium? - Answer - Morphine (The benchmark for all pain relievers)
What two drugs derived from opium are on the World Heath Organization's list of essential medicines
that should be available throughout the world at all times? - Answer - Morphine and Codeine
What is the most commonly used drug worldwide? - Answer - Codeine
Before the 19th century medicinal drugs were typically mixtures of what? - Answer - Local (or exotic)
plant, animal, and mineral products
What other things made drugs before the 19th Century ineffective and/or dangerous? - Answer - - Often
compounded by a local apothecary, in the home, or by unregulated commercial interests
- Marketed/Used without evidence for efficacy or understanding of potential harms
- For most illnesses, spiritual-based healing was as popular and successful as available drugs
- Mass-market quackery was an increasing problem as the 19th century approached
What was a quack medicine? And what was an example of it? - Answer - A "cure-all" and an example was
19th century Daffy's elixir
What did Francois Magendie reject and what two things did he establish? - Answer - - He rejected
theory-only based explanations for drugs and their actions in favor of facts gathered through
experimentation
, - He established (for the public and other scientists) the value of experimental animals for testing and
understanding drugs
- He also established experimental approaches such as investigation of drugs by intravenous injection
that were widely adopted by other scientists
What parallel advances in other sciences facilitated 19th century pharmacology? - Answer - - Chemists
isolated active drug compounds from plant-based medicines (for example: morphine, quinine, codeine,
and ephedrine)
- New instruments were invented that aided investigation of the responses to drugs (for example: In
1828, mercury manometer used by Magendie to measure changes in blood pressure in response to
various drugs)
What is Claude Bernard credited for? What did his research pioneer and what did his writing articulate? -
Answer - - He is often credited as the founder of experimental medicine (field of creating and studying
disease in experimental model systems)
- His research on curare and carbon monoxide poisoning pioneered the concept of investigating the
mechanisms of action for drugs in the body
- His writing articulated clear scientific methods and principles for early investigators in the field of
pharmacology
What were Bernard's 4 thoughts on the scientific method? - Answer - 1) Goal is to discover new facts and
formulate new theories to explain diseases and the responses to drugs and poisons
2) Theories should try to explain cause and effect relationships
3) Theories should be testable and continuously tested by experimentation
4) Observable reality is the only authority an theories must be reformulated if contradicted by
experimentally observed facts
(the common practice was to rely on the authority of past physicians: Hippocrates, Galen, etc)
*from his book An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, 1865
What had been used to treat fever and pain for over 2000 years and what was the active compound in
these plants? When was the active chemicals isolated and studied? - Answer - Extracts of willow and
