Pharmacology and Its History
The word pharmacology comes from the Greek for "study of drugs" and that is exactly what this discipline entails. It is the study of drugs and their interactions with the human body. It also includes the study of drug composition and properties, interactions, toxicology, medical applications and antipathogenic capabilities. By definition any substance that displays medicinal properties, like fever reduction, pain reduction, and germ growth prevention, is called a pharmaceutical, a drug. Typically the practice of pharmacology can be divided into two areas: pharmocadynamics and pharmacokinetics. The former studies the physiological effects that pharmaceuticals have on the human body. The latter category studies the exact opposite, the effects the human body has on drugs.
The origins of this biomedical study can be traced to middle ages. The oldest and most valuable of the historical material relating to pharmacology is Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica. Dioscorides was an ancient Greek physician and botanist that studied the medicinal properties of plants. William Withering, an English botanist, chemist and physician of the 18th century in England is known for the same studies. He discovered digitalis, also known as foxgloves, and studied its active ingredient, cardiac glycosides, on conditions of the heart. Pharmacology didn’t see any significant advances again until the mid 19th century. Prior to this many physicians and pharmacologists only knew that such drugs as quinine and morphine had serious and potent effects on various parts of the body, but few know to why or how this happened. The first department of pharmacology was created by Rudolf Buchheim in 1847 at the University of Giessen to combat this lack of knowledge. Buchheim was a German pharmacologist that has been credited with turning the discipline from a mere study of medicine into an exact science and for creating a methodology for determining the properties and medicinal aspects of chemical substances.
Today, pharmacology can be categorized into 12 divisions: clinical – medication effects on humans, neuropharmacology – medication effects on the nervous system, psychopharmacology – medication effects on the brain, pharmacogenetics – genetic variations and their differing responses to medication, pharmacoepidemiology – medication effects in large groups of people, toxicology – harmful and toxic effects of medication, theoretical pharmacology – metric studies, posology – medication dosing, pharmacognosy – medications derived from biological origins, behavioral pharmacology – medication effects on behavior, and environmental pharmacology – effects of drugs on the environment.
The field of pharmacology is wide and varied and can be credited for making this world and our lives much more healthy.
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