Pharmacology is a growing field which has so many different avenues for research and exploration. This blog post will explore the theoretical pharmacology of pain relief. What is Theoretical Pharmacology? Theoretical pharmacology is the study of how drugs work in relation to their chemical structure. It’s important for us to understand this because it tells us which drugs are more likely to be effective and why.
Theoretical pharmacology is the study of how drugs work. It can be used to describe many aspects of drug development and use, such as:
- Pharmacodynamics – the study of how a drug affect living system; including what it does to specific cells in the body (like which receptors it binds to) and what effects those actions have on other parts of the body (such as blood pressure or heart rate). This is also called “mechanism-based” or “drug action”.
- Pharmacokinetics – How a drug moves through an organism and its interactions with various tissues and organs along different phases in that movement. This is also called “drug absorption” or “absorption”.
Relevance with Computational Chemistry
According to Canada Pharmacy theoretical pharmacology is a rapidly expanding field of research activity that’s been greatly benefited by the increasing use and relevance of computational chemistry techniques. These include methods such as quantum mechanics, molecular modeling software packages like MolScripts, protein backbone conformations predicted using algorithms developed at CSIRO X-PLOR.
Theoretical pharmacology is a discipline of research that seeks to understand the interactions between drugs and human biology. Techniques like computational chemistry can be used for this purpose, with calculations based on quantum mechanical principles providing highly accurate contributions toward predicting how different molecules will interact with one another or produce certain effects in living organisms.
In recent years there has been considerable growth within theoretical pharmacological studies as many techniques from conventional chemical engineering applications are finding their way into new areas such as medicinal chemistry which deals specifically Molecular Field Theory (MFT). MFT utilizes density functional theory (DFT), ab-initio methods exclusively employing symmetric.
Types of Drugs
There are four main types of drugs:
- receptor agonists
- receptor antagonists
- enzyme inhibitors
- structural analogues
An example of an antagonist would be naloxone – this blocks opioid receptors in the brain which can reverse addiction by blocking pleasurable sensations that come with opioids like heroin or morphine.
Theoretical pharmacology Benefits
- Save time with accessible, practical research tools
- Get answers to perplexing questions
- Increase understanding of drugs and their molecular structures
- Gain experience in emerging fields
- Aligns the promise of computational chemistry with real-world needs
- Create new insights in pharmaceutics by using computation to predict new molecular structures
- Gain unprecedented understanding of how drugs work
- Get more accurate predictions for drug interactions and safety
- Uses modern technology to find the most effective treatment for a disease
- Determines the best drug dosage for severe conditions
- Quickly finds hidden side effects of drugs or new therapies before they are used on humans
- Provides detailed analysis on both new and existing pharmaceuticals
- Rapidly expanding field of research
- Relatively new and quickly developing area of study
- Useful in the area of computational chemistry
- Helps with techniques in computational quantum chemistry
What can you do with a degree in theoretical pharmacology?
Well, there are many different careers that you can pursue! Some people become teachers while others go on to work at pharmaceutical companies. With your background knowledge on drug reactions, you will be able to help develop new medications or better understand existing ones. You could also teach other students about the importance of understanding various aspects of drug reactions.
Conclusion
With its rapid growth, there is no doubt that theoretical pharmacology will continue to be a dynamic field of research. As you are reading this blog post, new discoveries in the field may have already been made. However, by understanding what has come before us and how it can help shape our future endeavors as researchers studying brain chemistry, we are better able to make informed decisions about where else computational theory might be applied for drug discovery purposes.
Erik Jackson has been a senior editor at Health News Tribune for three years. Fluent in French and proficient in Spanish and Arabic, he focuses on diseases and conditions and the newest trends in medicine.
