Category: 1.Basic introduction

Our bodies are largely controlled by proteins. Proteins exist in many different forms in the body and have many different functions. Each protein has a specific function and is quite specific to the cell type that it acts on. For example, there are specific types of proteins called receptors. Receptors are embedded on the cell surfaces,…

The chemical in the drug that affects physiological functioning is the active ingredient of the drug. For most drugs, the amount of chemical needed to cause an effect is very small, often as small as 5 micrograms; this is 0.005% of a gram! As you can imagine this is too small to package and handle, these ingredients…

A drug is a chemical that interacts with proteins in the body to affect a physiological function. This is the general idea behind all medicine. Once these chemicals are absorbed into the systemic circulation they bind with certain proteins and this changes the functioning of the cell slightly. For example, anticancer drugs bind to proteins on…

The study of drugs or chemicals and the effects they have on living animals is called pharmacology. Pharmacology explains what drugs are, what they do to body functions and what the body does to them. Pharmacology also explains why a person may experience side effects when they take drugs and why there is such a wide spectrum of differences between drug actions…