This course is designed to provide the student with a basic understanding of the actions of drugs and their clinical uses. Basic principles, including dose-response relationships and receptor theory, are emphasized. Current concepts of drug effects, mechanisms, and sites of action are explored in detail with respect to major classes of drugs. Important considerations are also given to drug interactions and the toxicology of therapeutic agents, chemicals in the environment, and other biologically active substances.

PHA 548 Physiological Pharmacology 6 cr

This course covers both cellular and organ system physiology. It is designed to prepare graduate students for Medical Pharmacology (PHA 540), for research in pharmacology, and includes reading and discussion of articles from the literature.

PHA 640 Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology 3 cr

In this course, the central themes of signal transduction from cellular receptor to amplified response, structure-activity relationships, and drug design are studied comprehensively. Specific topics include receptor-ligand interactions, receptor structure and coupling mechanisms, the biochemical and molecular aspects of G-proteins, protein phosphorylation mechanisms, molecular modeling and protein crystallography. Prerequisites: Biochemistry.

PHA 643 Molecular and Cellular Toxicology 3 cr

This course is concerned with the mechanisms by which toxic substances exert their effects at the molecular and cellular level. Detailed analysis of the processes by which toxic materials are metabolized to toxic intermediates is addressed. The mode of action of how toxic compounds interact with structural proteins and other macromolecules, enzymes and receptors, and the genome is included. Examples of toxicity of the heart, liver, lung, pancreas, and brain, including teratogenic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects are discussed at the mechanistic level. Prerequisites: Biochemistry.

College of Medicine

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