An Overview Of Pharmacology Research
Pharmacology is an important field of medical science that deals with drugs - their properties, functions and effects on the human and other living beings. It is a highly research-oriented subject in medical and health science. Researchers in this field carry out scientific analysis of drug actions and usage in living beings and are also involved in developing newer medication to minimize their adverse effects.
This multi-disciplinary health science has a number of sub-specialties and each of these areas has tremendous scope for research and analysis. Some of these include behavioral pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, pharmacogenetics, neuropsychopharmacology, environmental pharmacology and pharmacoeconomics, among others. Pharmacology research can be classified into two broad categories. pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. While the former focuses on how a drug can react to the body, the latter explores the fate of drugs upon entering the human body.
History of pharmacology
Pharmacology has a long history that dates back to the ancient times. During the early days, men used plant extracts for healing. Some plants started getting renowned as healer plant, while others were used as venoms. This became the foundation of the scientific research in the area of pharmacology. Medical scientists started developing medicines for curing fever with the extracts of cinchona trees, arthritis with garlic, pain with extracts of clove, dysentery with poppy seeds, and many more.
In the later part of the 19th century, several branches of medical and health sciences started emerging. These include physiology, biochemistry etc. However, it was not until mid-twentieth century that a highly specialized branch of medical science evolved that came to be known as pharmacology. Scientists stated to analyze and develop drugs for curing various complex diseases. Moreover, this area of research also started dealing with the effects of various drugs with a rational approach.
Over the years, researchers started dealing with new synthetic drugs. The purpose was to improve human conditions with response to drug treatment. Currently, pharmacological research works on computer-aided molecular modeling of drugs. This leads to the development of advanced drugs with little side effects.
Scope for research
Pharmacology, as a field of medical science has tremendous scope for research. It is interrelated to various sub-disciplines such as biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, pharmacy, genetics, physiology, molecular biology, to name a few, yet distinctly focuses on developing new medicines and in understanding their actions on living being, thereby giving a unique perspective to the development and usage of new and advanced drugs.
Pharmacology is also a very challenging subject in medical and scientific research as it poses unique questions that evoke further research. So, as long as human and living being exists in the world, there will be diseases and to cure several diseases, there will also be the need for pharmacology research that calls for the need of fresh and scientific insight.