The course covers mechanisms by which pharmacological agents interact with the living organism to provide the student with a rational basis for investigations in biomedical research. Topics include the pharmacodynamics of drugs influencing the central and peripheral nervous system, and the endocrine, renal, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. Lectures supplement weekly conferences and discussion groups. Emphasis is on the rationalization of behavior in terms of intermolecular forces. Solutions, suspensions, and emulsions are obvious examples of dosage forms whose formulation and analysis require a knowledge of the physical and chemical behavior of liquids.
Emphasis is on quantitative relationships in all areas.
Students solve problems to apply these relationships to real systems to show their relevance and utility. This course provides background necessary for the design of experiments, the interpretation of results, and the promulgation of new theory regarding pharmaceutical systems that involve liquids. A survey of the performance and processing of solid dosage forms. As most pharmaceuticals are prepared from powders, emphasis is on identifying, measuring, and controlling those properties that decide the processing characteristics of powdered materials. Recent explosion in biotechnology has led to emergence of novel molecules, including proteins, peptides, and antisense compounds.