General principles

95 pages

• Acid-peptic disease: physiology and treatment strategyHow the stomach makes acid and protects itself, and how reflux, ulcers, H. pylori infection and indigestion…
• Adrenal cortex: steroid synthesis and endocrine disordersHow the adrenal glands make cortisol, aldosterone and androgens, and how adrenal insufficiency, CAH and…
• Adrenergic transmissionHow the body makes, releases, recycles and breaks down noradrenaline and adrenaline, and how drugs act on…
• Adverse drug reactionsHarm caused by a medicine used normally: why it happens, the main types, and how a suspected reaction is…
• Agonists and antagonistsDrugs that switch a receptor on, switch it partly on, or block it, and the different ways one drug can…
• Allergen immunotherapyRegular, controlled doses of an allergen, by injection or under the tongue, retrain the immune system so…
• Antifungal therapy: fungal biology and drug targetsFungi are cells much like ours, so antifungals aim at the few parts that differ: the membrane sterol…
• Antimicrobial resistanceHow microbes escape antimicrobials, how resistance spreads between them and between countries, and how…
• Antiviral therapy: the viral replication cycle and drug targetsViruses use our own cells to copy themselves. Antivirals block the few steps that belong only to the virus.
• Asthma and COPD: mechanisms, inhalers and step-wise treatmentWhy airways narrow in asthma and COPD, how inhaled medicines reach the lungs, and how treatment is stepped…
• Autonomic nervous system: overviewThe automatic wiring that controls heart rate, blood pressure, airways, gut, bladder, pupils and glands, and…
• Autonomic receptor subtypesWhere each adrenergic, muscarinic and nicotinic receptor is found, what it does and which drugs target it…
• Beta-lactam allergy: penicillin labels, cross-reactivity and delabellingMany people are labelled allergic to penicillin, but few truly are. Checking the label opens the door to…
• Biologics and nucleic acid medicinesMedicines made from proteins, cells or genetic material: antibodies, hormones, antisense and siRNA drugs…
• Calcium, phosphate and bone: physiology and disordersHow the body keeps calcium and phosphate in balance, how bone is constantly rebuilt, and what goes wrong in…
• Cardiac electrophysiology and how arrhythmias ariseHow each heartbeat is an electrical wave, how that wave goes wrong, and why drugs that fix rhythm can also…
• Cell signalling pathways: energy, growth, survival and deathHow cells sense energy and nutrients, decide to grow, recycle or die, and how drugs such as mTOR and BCL-2…
• Cephalosporin generationsHow cephalosporins are grouped into generations 1 to 5, what each covers, and the gaps they all share…
• Chemical carcinogens, chemoprevention and aflatoxinHow chemicals cause cancer, how agencies rank carcinogens, and how drugs and public health measures can…
• Cholinergic transmissionHow nerve cells make, release and break down acetylcholine, the two receptor families it acts on, and the…
• Depression and anxiety: biology and drug treatmentWhat is thought to go wrong in the brain in depression and anxiety, and how antidepressants and other…
• Dermatological pharmacology: skin, vehicles and lightHow drugs get through the skin, why the cream or ointment matters, and how light, sunscreens, itch…
• Diabetes mellitus: pathophysiology and managementHow the body controls blood sugar, why it fails in the different types of diabetes, how diabetes is…
• Dietary supplements and herbal productsHow supplements are regulated, why «natural» does not mean safe, and the interactions and hidden ingredients…
• Dose–response and therapeutic indexHow effect grows with dose, the difference between a more potent and a more effective drug, and how close…
• Dosing regimens and therapeutic drug monitoringWhy some drugs start with a larger first dose, how blood levels guide treatment, and why kidney or liver…
• Drug discovery and developmentThe long path from an idea about a disease target to a medicine on the pharmacy shelf: laboratory work…
• Drug elimination, clearance and half-lifeHow the body removes a drug, why some drugs last hours and others weeks, and why levels build up when dosing…
• Drug interactionsHow one medicine, food, supplement or illness can change the effect of another medicine, and how to spot the…
• Drug metabolism and cytochrome P450How the liver and gut chemically change drugs, why some drugs speed up or slow down others, and how prodrugs…
• Drug transportersMembrane proteins that pump drugs into or out of cells in the gut, liver, kidney and brain, and a frequent…
• Eicosanoids: prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes as drug targetsThe lipid messengers made from arachidonic acid, and the anti-inflammatories, antiplatelet drugs, asthma…
• Environmental and occupational toxicologyHow air pollution, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals at home and at work harm health, and how…
• Epilepsy: seizure types and drug treatmentHow seizures are classified, why they happen, how antiseizure medicines are matched to seizure type, and how…
• Ethanol and toxic alcoholsHow alcohol acts and harms, how withdrawal is recognised and treated, and why methanol and ethylene glycol…
• Gender-affirming hormone therapyHow sex hormones and hormone blockers are used, under specialist care, to help transgender and…
• General anaesthesia: principles, effects and special patientsWhat general anaesthesia does to the brain and body, why patients get cold or sick afterwards, and how care…
• Generics, biosimilars and bioequivalenceWhy a generic medicine works like the original, how biosimilars differ from generics, and how patents and…
• Geriatric pharmacologyHow ageing changes the response to medicines, why many medicines at once is risky, and how medicines are…
• GI motility, water flux and vomitingHow the gut moves food along and handles water, what goes wrong in motility disorders like gastroparesis…
• Gut microbiome and drug responseThe bacteria in the gut can switch drugs on, switch them off or make them more toxic, which helps explain…
• Haematopoiesis, iron and the megaloblastic anaemiasHow bone marrow makes blood cells, what growth factors steer it, and how lack of iron, vitamin B12 or folate…
• Haemostasis: platelets, clotting and clot breakdownHow the body plugs a cut blood vessel, keeps clots from spreading and later dissolves them, and where…
• Heart failure: mechanisms and the combined drug regimenWhy a weak heart gets worse over time, and how a set of drugs taken together slows that down and helps…
• Heavy metal poisoningLead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and iron: where exposure comes from, what each metal damages and when…
• Histamine and bradykininTwo mediators of swelling: histamine drives allergy and acid secretion; bradykinin drives ACE-inhibitor and…
• HIV: life cycle and principles of antiretroviral therapyHow HIV copies itself inside immune cells, and why treatment uses several drugs together, taken every day…
• Hormonal therapy of cancer: breast, prostate, neuroendocrine and thyroid tumoursSome cancers grow on hormones. Removing the hormone or blocking its receptor slows them, often for years.
• Immunity and inflammation: basics for pharmacologyThe innate and adaptive immune systems and the mediators of inflammation, as the background needed to…
• Inflammatory bowel disease: pathogenesis and treatmentWhat Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are, why they happen, and how medicines, nutrition and…
• Insomnia: types and managementWhy people sleep badly, why behavioural therapy comes first, and when and how sleep medicines are used.
• Ischaemic heart disease: oxygen balance, stable disease and acute syndromesWhy narrowed heart arteries cause chest pain or a heart attack, and how drugs, stents and clot treatment fit…
• Lipoproteins, cardiovascular risk and lipid-lowering strategyHow fats travel in the blood, why LDL and lipoprotein(a) build up in arteries, and how treatment is matched…
• Managing the poisoned patientThe general approach to a poisoning: support breathing and circulation first, then decontaminate, speed…
• Medication adherenceWhy many people do not take medicines as agreed, what that costs, and which practical changes help.
• Neurobiology of addictionHow drugs hijack the brain's reward system, the difference between tolerance, dependence and addiction, and…
• Neurodegenerative diseases: shared biology, Parkinson and AlzheimerWhy some brain cells slowly die in Parkinson and Alzheimer disease, which proteins build up, and what…
• Neuromuscular junction and autonomic gangliaHow a nerve makes a skeletal muscle contract, how neuromuscular blockers used in anaesthesia stop it, and…
• Neurotransmission in the central nervous systemHow brain cells talk through chemical messengers, and how sedatives, antidepressants, antipsychotics and…
• Nitric oxide pharmacologyHow the gas nitric oxide relaxes blood vessels through cGMP, and the nitrates, PDE5 inhibitors, sGC…
• Obstetric pharmacotherapy: pre-eclampsia and preterm labourHow medicines are used to control blood pressure and prevent seizures in pre-eclampsia, and to delay preterm…
• Ocular pharmacology: getting drugs into the eyeHow eye drops, injections and implants reach the eye, why some drops act on the whole body, and how pills…
• Opioid pharmacology: receptors, tolerance and opioid use disorderHow the body's own opioids and opioid drugs work, why the effect fades with time, and how opioid use…
• Over-the-counter medicinesWhat makes a medicine safe enough to sell without a prescription, and the hidden risks of self-medication.
• Overdose of beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and antipsychoticsWhy heart pills and antipsychotics are dangerous in overdose, what the poisoning looks like and which…
• Paediatric and perinatal pharmacologyWhy newborns and children handle medicines differently from adults, why doses are based on weight, and which…
• Penicillin groupsPenicillins grouped by spectrum: natural, antistaphylococcal, aminopenicillins and antipseudomonal, and why…
• Persistent environmental pollutants and endocrine disruptorsChemicals such as PCBs, dioxins, PFAS, BPA and phthalates that stay in the body and the environment and can…
• Pesticide toxicology: organochlorines, botanicals and herbicidesHow insect and weed killers such as DDT, pyrethrins, glyphosate and paraquat harm people, and why pesticide…
• Pharmacodynamics: receptors and signallingWhat a drug does to the body: the molecular targets drugs bind, the signals they set off, and why responses…
• PharmacogeneticsHow inherited differences in genes change the way a person handles a drug or reacts to it, and when a…
• Pharmacokinetics: absorption and distributionWhat the body does to a drug: how it gets in, how much reaches the blood and where it goes before it is…
• Pharmacovigilance and post-marketing safetyHow adverse effects are detected, reported and acted on after a medicine is approved, and how health workers…
• Precision oncology: driver mutations, biomarker testing and liquid biopsyTesting a tumour's genes can show which targeted drug may work. Tumours change over time, so testing may…
• Prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeedingHow drugs cross the placenta and into milk, when the embryo is most vulnerable, and how risk is described on…
• Principles of antimicrobial therapyHow an antibiotic is chosen: likely microbe, site, patient and killing pattern, using the narrowest…
• Principles of cancer chemotherapyHow cytotoxic drugs exploit cell division, why they are given in combinations and cycles, and why they share…
• Principles of clinical toxicologyWhy any substance can be a poison at the wrong dose, how poisons injure cells, and the difference between…
• Principles of immunopharmacologyWhere immunosuppressants and biologics act, how to read their names, why they raise infection and cancer…
• Principles of vaccines and immunisationActive and passive immunity, the main vaccine types, the cold chain and how Colombia's Expanded Programme on…
• Protozoal infections: amebiasis, giardiasis, trichomoniasis, toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosisSingle-celled parasites that cause diarrhoea, liver abscess, a sexually transmitted infection and dangerous…
• Psychosis and mania: neurotransmitters and treatmentWhy psychosis is linked to dopamine, serotonin and glutamate, and how antipsychotics and mood stabilisers…
• Rational prescribingHow to choose the right medicine for the right patient, write a clear and legal prescription in Colombia…
• Resistance to cancer drugsWhy tumours stop responding to chemotherapy and targeted drugs: efflux pumps, target mutations, bypass…
• Serotonin and dopamine pharmacologySerotonin (5-HT) and dopamine receptor families, and the antidepressants, antiemetics, migraine…
• The blood–brain barrierWhy many drugs never reach the brain, how some are designed to get in and others to stay out, and what…
• The endocannabinoid systemThe body's own cannabis-like signalling system: small fats made on demand that tune nerve signals, appetite…
• The hypothalamic–pituitary axisHow the hypothalamus and pituitary run the thyroid, adrenal, gonadal, growth and milk axes through feedback…
• The nephron and how diuretics workHow the kidney filters blood and takes back salt and water segment by segment, and how each diuretic blocks…
• Thyroid hormone: physiology, tests and hypothyroidismHow the thyroid makes its hormones, how they act on nearly every organ, how blood tests are read, and how an…
• Topical corticosteroids: potency, vehicles and safetyHow skin steroids are ranked from mild to very potent, how the base changes their effect, and how to avoid…
• ToxidromesThe five classic patterns of poisoning (cholinergic, anticholinergic, sympathomimetic, opioid, sedative) and…
• Treating high blood pressure: strategy and drug choiceHow doctors bring blood pressure down: lifestyle first, then a few proven drug families, often two together…
• Vasoactive peptidesAngiotensin, natriuretic peptides, endothelin, vasopressin, substance P and CGRP: peptides that set vessel…
• Viral hepatitis B and C: virology and treatment principlesHepatitis B can be controlled but rarely cured; hepatitis C can now be cured with tablets. This page…

← Pharmacology

Educational content on how drugs work; not a prescribing guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Representative model, for educational purposes only.