Ateneo - UPO

General and clincal pharmacology and toxicology

Suggested books:
• Farmacologia generale e molecolare. Clementi & Fumagalli, IV Ed, UTET
• Elementi di tossicologia, Lu Frank C. - Kacew Sam, Ed EMSI

The course is worth 3 credits with 30 hours of classroom teaching. The aim of the course is to provide students with a basic understanding of pharmacology and toxicology, enabling them to understand the toxicological effects of therapeutic and environmental agents on living organisms.

Students are required to have a good preparation in biochemistry, physiology, anatomy and general pathology

All lessons will be held in the classroom; there will be no practical workshops, and active participation from students is encouraged where their knowledge allows.Lesson PDFs will be made available on the DIR platform.

Students with disabilities, Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), or Special Educational Needs (SEN) can request specific services and tools for them by visiting the dedicated page on the University website: https://uniupo.it/it/servizi/servizi-studentesse-e-studenti-condizione-di-fragilità-disabilità-dsa-bes. Students with disabilities, SLD, or SSEN, after contacting the University staff, can contact the professor in charge of the course regarding the specific exam modalities and educational aspects.

The exam consists of an oral test during which students must not only demonstrate their knowledge of the subject but also demonstrate their ability to critically connect different topics.

-Introduction to pharmacology and toxicology
Pharmacodynamic: receptors and signal transduction; meaning of agonist and antagonist; the dose-response curve;
-Pharmacokinetic: absorbtion, distribution, metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics; meaning of half life, bioavailability, clearance and distribution volume
- Toxicity of monoxide carbon, methemoglobin
Toxicity of NSAID
Toxicity of nervous system: glutammatergic system, GABAergic system and colinergic system.
Drug abuse: opioids, barbiturates and benzodiazepines,psicostimulants, cannabinoids, ethanol.
Prion diseases
Doping.
Integration of the gender dimension: where of interest, attention will be paid to gender pharmacology

The Dublin descriptors will be the terms of assessment: D1 - KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The student will know and understand the basic concepts of general pharmacology and the pharmacotoxicological characteristics of substances of abuse and various drug classes. D2 - ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING: The student will acquire the ability to use the theoretical knowledge taught in class to reason critically, demonstrating the ability to make connections between different topics and to apply the acquired knowledge in the context of clinical analyses of various drugs or toxic substances. D3 - JUDGMENT ABILITY: The student will acquire the ability to critically examine the theoretical concepts acquired and to be able to independently argue the problems arising from their practical application. D4-COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS: Students will acquire the ability to communicate their acquired knowledge using specific and appropriate vocabulary in order to communicate professionally and competently in both academic and professional settings. D5-LEARNING SKILLS: Students will acquire learning skills useful for continuous and ongoing updating on the procedures to be performed in a clinical analysis laboratory.