WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:07.000 Dad, what's a pharmacologist? 2 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:16.200 Gee, Linda, I'm glad you asked that. You know, a few years ago, I didn't even know how to spell pharmacologist. Now I are one. 3 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:21.740 Oh, come on, Dad. What is pharmacology? 4 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:32.740 Well, most drug companies are involved in research, and nearly all medical schools have a pharmacology department. 5 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:35.980 Yeah, but what is pharmacology? 6 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:44.280 Well, a lot of people confuse pharmacology with pharmacy, but pharmacology is really not pharmacy. 7 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:55.280 Many pharmacologists start out as pharmacists, but go on with postgraduate studies in a medical school or a pharmacy school to get a master's degree or a doctor of philosophy in pharmacology. 8 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:08.340 Pharmacology is the study of the actions of drugs in living systems. In basic pharmacology research, these living systems are laboratory animals. 9 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:12.920 Before the drugs are studied, they must be prepared in an appropriate form for administration. 10 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:18.120 This usually involves making a solution of the correct concentration, if this is possible. 11 00:01:19.080 --> 00:01:23.140 You might say this is one aspect of pharmacology that involves a little bit of pharmacy. 12 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:41.860 After the drug is prepared, the other materials required for an experiment must be very carefully set up. 13 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.440 Oh, come on, Dad. 14 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:55.300 Doses are usually given on a basis of weight of drug per weight of animal. 15 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.880 Usually this is in terms of milligrams of drug per kilogram of animal weight. 16 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:09.680 Many different animals may be used in basic pharmacology research, including mice, guinea pigs, rats, hamsters, gerbils, dogs, cats, rabbits, and monkeys. 17 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:21.320 The usual aim for work on these animals is to be able to extrapolate the results to humans, so new therapeutic agents can be developed or to aid in understanding the actions of drugs in humans. 18 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.320 Sometimes only a small piece of tissue is used to study the basic mechanisms of drug action. 19 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:30.900 The tissue is removed from the animal and placed in a physiological salt solution. 20 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:38.580 Contractions can be produced by adding various substances to the bath, and these contractions are detected with a transducer, shown here. 21 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:45.160 The movements of the tissue are transmitted by electrical mains and are recorded on a pen-writing recorder. 22 00:02:47.660 --> 00:02:55.540 Now if you watch very closely, you can see this strip of guinea pig ileum slowly contract after the addition of a stimulant to the bathing solution. 23 00:03:23.760 --> 00:03:26.440 The movement of the tissue is recorded on a pen-writer. 24 00:03:28.100 --> 00:03:37.700 By using isolated tissues such as this, we reduce the factors of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion that are involved when a drug is given to a whole animal. 25 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:41.580 This gives us a closer look at the basic mechanism of drug action. 26 00:04:01.580 --> 00:04:06.940 Antagonism, or inhibition of natural body substances, is a basic mechanism by which many drugs act. 27 00:04:06.940 --> 00:04:17.060 The apparatus shown here is used to detect drugs that will antagonize the actions of radicin, prostaglandins, acetylcholine, or 5-hydroxy-triptamine on isolated tissue. 28 00:04:17.840 --> 00:04:21.260 Recording the results of experiments is an important part of any experiment. 29 00:04:25.820 --> 00:04:29.940 Interpreting these results and designing new experiments is also important. 30 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:39.200 We must keep up to date on scientific research. 31 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:48.140 There are many specialties within pharmacology. Let's take a look at some of these. 32 00:04:48.780 --> 00:04:50.940 One of the specialties is cardiovascular pharmacology. 33 00:04:51.880 --> 00:05:03.000 Dogs are often used in these cardiovascular studies because they are convenient in size for surgical procedures and can be trained to lie quietly for non-painful experiments like we see here. 34 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:22.220 If surgery is to be performed, the animals are anesthetized. 35 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:45.820 Sophisticated electronic equipment is required in some areas of pharmacology. 36 00:05:46.640 --> 00:05:51.240 Here we see some of the electronic equipment that is used to study the effects of drugs on the heart. 37 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:38.440 Another area of pharmacology is pulmonary pharmacology. 38 00:06:38.820 --> 00:06:42.580 In this experiment, air is pumped into the lungs of an anesthetized guinea pig. 39 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:48.440 The effect of drugs on the resistance to air passage can be measured by this technique. 40 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.300 Another area of pharmacology is gastrointestinal pharmacology. 41 00:06:55.780 --> 00:07:01.200 Here we see the examination of rat stomachs to determine if a drug is effective in preventing ulcers. 42 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:19.440 There are many specialized areas of pharmacology including renal pharmacology or the study of the actions of drugs on kidney function, pharmacology of the peripheral nervous system, and biochemical pharmacology. 43 00:07:28.700 --> 00:07:33.500 The study of the actions of drugs on the central nervous system is an important area of pharmacology. 44 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:41.600 Here we see electrodes being implanted into the brains of mice so brain function can be monitored after the administration of drugs. 45 00:07:49.440 --> 00:08:07.840 The study of drugs on the heart is conducted by the 46 00:08:07.840 --> 00:08:11.200 CNS pharmacology also involves the effects of drugs on behavior. 47 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:15.640 Monkeys are sometimes used in these studies because of their advanced behavioral patterns. 48 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:31.020 Pharmacology is not an exact science. Many of the experiments have to be conducted on a large number of animals with statistical analysis of the results to aid in interpretation. 49 00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:35.320 The statistical analyses are usually done these days on a computer. 50 00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:42.880 Gee, Dad, is that all you do? Sit around all day and read those silly magazines?