pharmacologi

Pharmacology is the science concerned with the interactions between chemical substances and living systems. It investigates how drugs and other agents affect biological processes, and how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates these substances. Pharmacology encompasses pharmacokinetics, which describes the fate of substances in the body, and pharmacodynamics, which examines the effects of substances on physiology and biochemistry, including mechanisms of action at molecular targets such as receptors, enzymes, and transporters.

Subfields include clinical pharmacology, which focuses on optimizing drug therapy in patients; psychopharmacology, cardiovascular pharmacology, neuropharmacology, and toxicology, which studies harmful effects and poison management. Pharmacogenomics explores how genetic variation influences drug response. Medicinal chemistry and pharmacoeconomics contribute to drug design and cost-effectiveness analyses, respectively.

History traces pharmacology to ancient medical traditions; modern pharmacology developed in the 19th and 20th centuries with the formulation of systematic descriptions of drug actions and safety profiles. Pioneers such as Claude Bernard contributed to the concept of homeostasis, while Paul Ehrlich introduced receptor-based thinking.

Methods include in vitro and in vivo experiments, animal models, clinical trials, and computational modeling. Pharmacology informs drug discovery, development, dosing guidelines, and therapeutic decision-making. It also plays a central role in regulatory science, safety monitoring, and pharmacovigilance to identify and mitigate adverse drug reactions.