In recent years many developments, such as the use of levo dopa in Parkinsonism, the manipulation of monamines in depression and the discovery of endogenous opioids, have brought basic neuropharmacology and the successful treatment of disorders of the C.N.S. much closer together. It is likely that future prospect for drug therapy in neurology and psychiatry will depend very much on a better understanding of neurotransmitter function and manipulation. This neuropharmacology course tries to provide a basis for such an understanding. This knowledge is then applied to a consideration of various disease states and drug action. Special emphasis is given to neurotransmitter function and malfunction in epilepsy, Parkinsonism, schizophrenia, depression, pain and anxiety states and to the mode of action of drugs in these conditions.
Students attend a comprehensive series of lectures given by experts in the field.
Additional material is covered in student seminars and discussion groups. The evaluation of published work and a proper appreciation of the problems facing research workers is helped by practical experience of the methods used. Alternatively, students may undertake a reading project in preparation for a lecture. The course aims to give students an understanding of the quantitative principles which underlie the study of the action of drugs at receptors, beginning with the physical chemical principles which underlie the drug-receptor interaction. The course studies the molecular nature of receptors and encourages a critical and quantitative approach to the analysis and interpretation of pharmacological data.