pharmacological

Pharmacological is an adjective relating to pharmacology, the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the interactions between chemical substances and living systems. In scholarly and clinical contexts, pharmacological describes properties, actions, or effects produced by drugs or other chemical agents. The term is used to refer to how a substance influences physiological processes, typically through molecular targets such as receptors, enzymes, or transporters.

Pharmacology covers how a substance is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted (pharmacokinetics) and how it affects the body (pharmacodynamics). Pharmacological knowledge supports the discovery, development, and use of medicines, including dose selection, expected benefits, and potential adverse effects. It also informs safety assessment and regulatory decisions.

Subfields and applications include clinical pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, toxicology, and pharmacovigilance. Drug discovery and preclinical testing rely on pharmacological principles, as do therapeutic monitoring and personalized medicine. The term also appears in descriptions of experimental agents to distinguish pharmacological action from nonpharmacological actions.

Key concepts in pharmacology include receptor agonism and antagonism, affinity, potency, efficacy, selectivity, and dose–response relationships; the distinction between pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects; and safety concepts such as therapeutic index and adverse drug reactions. The adjective pharmacological therefore signals a relation to the study or application of drug action.