Medical Pharmacology at a Glance is recognised as an excellent starting point for pharmacology study. This international best-seller is the perfect companion for all medical and health students, providing an accessible, visual overview of pharmacology.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Further reading
• How to use your textbook
• 1: Introduction: principles of drug action
• Receptors
• Transport systems
• Enzymes
• Second messengers
• G-proteins
• 2: Drug–receptor interactions
• Binding of drugs to receptors
• Antagonists
• Receptor reserve
• Partial agonists
• Intrinsic efficacy
• Bioassay
• Binding assays
• Localization of receptors
• Tachyphylaxis, desensitization, tolerance and drug resistance
• 3: Drug absorption, distribution and excretion
• Routes of administration
• Distribution and excretion
• Excretion
• 4: Drug metabolism
• Drugs
• Liver
• Phase I reactions
• Phase II reactions
• Factors affecting drug metabolism
• 5: Local anaesthetics
• Na+ channels
• Action potential
• Mechanism of local anaesthetics
• Chemistry
• Unwanted effects
• Methods of administration
• 6: Drugs acting at the neuromuscular junction
• Presynaptic agents
• Competitive neuromuscular blocking drugs
• Depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs
• 7: Autonomic nervous system
• Effects of sympathetic stimulation
• Acetylcholine
• 8: Autonomic drugs acting at cholinergic synapses
• Cholinomimetics
• Muscarinic antagonists (antimuscarinics)
• 9: Drugs acting on the sympathetic system
• Sympathomimetics
• Adrenoceptor antagonists
• 10: Ocular pharmacology
• Glaucoma
• Mydriatics
• 11: Asthma, hay fever and anaphylaxis
• Mediators
• Bronchodilators
• Cromoglicate
• Corticosteroids
• Acute severe asthma
• Antihistamines
• 12: Drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract I: peptic ulcer
• Acid secretion
• Protective factors
• Ulcer healing drugs
• Antacids
• 13: Drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract II: motility and secretions
• Motility stimulants
• Laxatives
• Antidiarrhoeal drugs
• Drugs used in inflammatory bowel disease
• Drugs used to dissolve gallstones
• Pancreatic supplements
• 14: Drugs acting on the kidney: diuretics
• Thiazides
• Loop diuretics
• Potassium-sparing diuretics
• 15: Drugs used in hypertension
• Thiazide and other diuretics
• β-adrenoceptor antagonists
• Vasodilator drugs
• Centrally acting drugs
• Acute severe hypertension
• 16: Drugs used in angina
• Nitrates
• β-Adrenoceptor antagonists
• Calcium-channel blockers
• Revascularization
• 17: Antiarrhythmic drugs
• Cardiac action potential
• Pacemaker cells
• Drugs used in supraventricular arrhythmias
• Drugs effective in supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias
• Drugs used in ventricular arrhythmias
• Alternatives to drugs
• 18: Drugs used in heart failure
• ACE inhibitors and ARBs
• β-blockers
• Inotropic drugs
• Sympathomimetic agents
• 19: Drugs used to affect blood coagulation
• Anticoagulants
• Antiplatelet drugs
• Fibrinolytic drugs (thrombolytics)
• 20: Lipid-lowering drugs
• Lipoproteins
• Hyperlipidaemias
• Atherosclerosis
• Drug combinations
• 21: Agents used in anaemias
• Iron
• Iron preparations
• Vitamin B12
• Folic acid
• Erythropoietin
• 22: Central transmitter substances
• Amino acids
• Monoamines
• Other transmitters/modulaters
• 23: General anaesthetics
• Reticular activating system (RAS)
• Mechanism of action of anaesthetics
• Premedication
• Intravenous agents
• Inhalation agents
• 24: Anxiolytics and hypnotics
• GABA receptors
• Barbiturate receptor
• Benzodiazepines
• Antidepressants
• Drugs acting at serotonergic (5HT) receptors
• 25: Antiepileptic drugs
• Causes of epilepsy
• Mechanisms of action of anticonvulsants
• Drugs used in partial and generalized tonic–clonic (grand mal) seizures
• Drugs used to treat absences (petit mal)
• Drugs effective in tonic–clonic (grand mal) and absence (petit mal) seizures
• Drug withdrawal
• Pregnancy
• 26: Drugs used in Parkinson's disease
• Aetiology
• Dopaminergic drugs
• Dopamine agonists
• Drugs causing dopamine release
• MAOB and COMT inhibitors
• Antimuscarinics
• 27: Antipsychotic drugs (neuroleptics)
• Dopamine receptors
• Chemical classification
• Depot preparations
• 28: Drugs used in affective disorders: antidepressants
• Monoamine theory of depression
• Mechanism of action of antidepressants
• Drugs that inhibit amine uptake
• Receptor blockers
• Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
• Mechanism of action
• 29: Opioid analgesics
• Strong opioid analgesics
• Weak opioid analgesics
• 30: Drugs used in nausea and vertigo (antiemetics)
• Drug-induced vomiting
• Motion sickness
• Vestibular disease
• Pregnancy
• 31: Drug misuse and dependence
• Central stimulants
• Opioids
• Hallucinogens (psychedelics)
• General depressants
• Tobacco
• 32: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Mechanisms of action
• Adverse effects
• Other NSAIDs
• Gout
• 33: Corticosteroids
• Glucocorticoids
• Mineralocorticoids
• 34: Sex hormones and drugs
• Infertility
• Testosterone
• Oestrogens
• Progestogens
• Oral contraceptives
• 35: Thyroid and antithyroid drugs
• Hyperthyroidism (thyrotoxicosis)
• Antithyroid drugs
• Hypothyroidism
• Replacement therapy
• 36: Antidiabetic agents
• Insulin release
• Insulin preparations
• Adverse effects
• Insulin regimens
• Oral antidiabetic drugs
• 37: Antibacterial drugs that inhibit nucleic acid synthesis: sulphonamides, trimethoprim, quinolones and nitroimidazoles
• Selective toxicity
• Sulphonamides
• Quinolones
• 5-Nitroimidazoles
• 38: Antibacterial drugs that inhibit cell wall synthesis: penicillins, cephalosporins and vancomycin
• Penicillins
• Cephalosporins
• Other β-lactam antibiotics
• Vancomycin
• 39: Antibacterial drugs that inhibit protein synthesis: aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, macrolides and chloramphenicol
• Aminoglycosides
• Macrolides
• Tetracyclines
• Chloramphenicol
• Streptogramins
• 40: Antifungal drugs
• Fungal infections
• Polyenes
• Flucytosine
• Imidazoles
• Triazoles
• Echinocandins
• 41: Antiviral drugs
• Drugs that prevent the virus entering or leaving the host cells
• Drugs that inhibit viral DNA polymerase
• Drugs that inhibit viral reverse transcriptase
• 42: Drugs acting on parasites I: helminths (worms)
• Nematodes (roundworms)
• Trematodes (flukes)
• Cestodes (tapeworms)
• Anthelmintics
• 43: Drugs acting on parasites II: protozoa
• Blood schizonticides (slow-acting)
• Blood schizonticides (rapid-acting)
• Tissue schizonticide
• Other protozoal diseases
• 44: Drugs used in cancer
• Alkylating agents
• Cytotoxic antibiotics
• Vinca alkaloids and taxanes
• Antimetabolites
• Monoclonal antibodies
• Hormones and hormone antagonists
• 45: Immunosuppressants and antirheumatoid drugs
• Corticosteroids
• Antiproliferative drugs
• Calcineurin inhibitors
• Monoclonal antibodies
• Disease-modifying antirheumatoid drugs (DMARDs)
• Anticytokine drugs
• 46: Poisoning
• Reduction of absorption
• Enhancement of elimination
• Aspirin
• Paracetamol
• Opioids
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• 47: Adverse drug reactions
• Drug interactions
• Drug allergy
• Teratogenesis
• Carcinogenesis
• Case studies and questions
• Answers