Pharmacology 1

Data

Official data in SubjectManager for the following academic year: 2025-2026

Topic

The general aim of the subject is to provide the medical students with all the basic information in pharmacology necessary to understand the actions of drugs and the clinical pharmacotherapy and to pass the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination in Medical Sciences. Pharmacology can be defined as the study of the manner in which the function of living systems is affected by chemical agents. Therefore, the students should be familiar with the basic knowledge of the physiological, pathophysiological and biochemical background of the pharmacological and therapeutic approaches. On the other hand, drug therapy is closely related to the clinical aspects of diseases.

The following topics will be dealt with. Definitions, prescription writing, drug development, drug formulations. General aspects of mechanisms of drug actions: characterization of drug-receptor interactions, mechanisms of drug antagonism, signal transduction mechanisms of drug receptors. General and quantitative aspects of pharmacokinetics: absorption, distribution and elimination of drugs. Pharmacology of the autonomic nervous system. Cardiovascular pharmacology: drugs used to treat congestive heart failure, antianginal, antiarrhythmic, antihypertensive drugs, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, drugs acting on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Drugs used to treat cancer, immunopharmacology.

Lectures

• 1. Introduction to pharmacology - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 2. Introduction to neuropharmacology - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 3. Cholinergic agonists and cholinesterase inhibitors - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 4. Muscarinic receptor antagonists - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 5. Neuromuscular blocking agents - Pethő Gábor István
• 6. Agents acting on noradrenergic neurons - Pethő Gábor István
• 7. Adrenergic receptor agonists - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 8. Adrenergic receptor antagonists - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 9. Pharmacological aspects of the purinergic system and NO - Borbély Éva
• 10. Significance of the protein and peptide mediators - Szőke Éva
• 11. Calcium channel blockers - Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• 12. Drugs acting on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 13. Antiarrhythmic drugs - Pethő Gábor István
• 14. Diuretic drugs I - Horváth Ádám István (Farmakológia)
• 15. Diuretic drugs II - Horváth Ádám István (Farmakológia)
• 16. Antianginal drugs - Pethő Gábor István
• 17. Drugs used to treat congestive heart failure I - Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• 18. Drugs used to treat congestive heart failure II - Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• 19. Antihypertensive drugs - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 20. Principles of fluid therapy - Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• 21. Histamine and antihistaminic drugs - Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• 22. Drugs affecting hemostasis I - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 23. Drugs affecting hemostasis II - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 24. Drugs affecting hemostasis III - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 25. Serotonin, serotonin receptor agonists and antagonists - Pethő Gábor István
• 26. Drugs affecting hematopoiesis I - Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• 27. Drugs affecting hematopoiesis II - Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• 28. Pharmacology of eicosanoids - Pethő Gábor István
• 29. Drugs used to treat hyperlipoproteinemias I - Borbély Éva
• 30. Drugs used to treat hyperlipoproteinemias II - Borbély Éva
• 31. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs I - Pethő Gábor István
• 32. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs II - Pethő Gábor István
• 33. Pharmacological targets of inflammation - Borbély Éva
• 34. Basics of biological therapy - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 35. Immunosuppressants, immunomodulators - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 36. Drugs against rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 37. Antineoplastic drugs I - Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• 38. Antineoplastic drugs II - Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• 39. Antineoplastic drugs III - Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• 40. Drug research - Hetényi Csaba
• 41. Drug development - Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• 42. Future perspectives of pharmacology - Sánticsné Pintér Erika

Practices

Seminars

• 1. Introduction: pharmacology and related subjects, drug names, drug compendia
• 2. Basic mechanisms of drug actions
• 3. Characterization of agonist-receptor interaction I
• 4. Characterization of agonist-receptor interaction II
• 5. Characterization of agonist-receptor interaction III
• 6. Signal transduction, tachyphylaxis and tolerance
• 7. Mechanisms of antagonism
• 8. Inverse agonism
• 9. Discussion of the autonomic pharmacology I
• 10. Discussion of the autonomic pharmacology II
• 11. Basic concepts of pharmacokinetics I
• 12. Basic concepts of pharmacokinetics II
• 13. Events following an intravascular bolus
• 14. The role of transport and membranes in pharmacokinetics
• 15. Distribution. Elimination 2: Hepatic and renal elimination. Excretion. Metabolism
• 16. Physiologic and physicochemical determinants of drug absorption
• 17. Events following an extravascular dose. Absorption
• 18. Therapeutic regimens
• 19. Individualization of the drug therapy. Non-linear pharmacokinetics
• 20. Prescription writing
• 21. Drug formulations I
• 22. Drug formulations II
• 23. Drugs acting on smooth muscle
• 24. Drugs increasing regional blood flow. Drug treatment of gout
• 25. Drugs acting on the respiratory tract I
• 26. Drugs acting on the respiratory tract II
• 27. Discussion of the cardiovascular drugs I
• 28. Discussion of the cardiovascular drugs II

Reading material

Obligatory literature

Literature developed by the Department

Materials related to the topics discussed in lectures and seminars will be available on Teams.

Notes

Recommended literature

Rang, Dale, Ritter, Moore: Pharmacology, 9th edition, Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 2020

B. G. Katzung (ed.): Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 15th edition, Lange Medical Books, McGraw-Hill, 2021

Conditions for acceptance of the semester

None.

Mid-term exams

There is no mid-semester test.

Making up for missed classes

Each missed seminar has to be made up for with another group in the same week.

Exam topics/questions

1. Basic mechanisms of drug actions
2. Characterization of agonist-receptor interaction: occupancy, affinity, concentration-response curve, potency, efficacy, quantal dose-response curve
3. Significance of signal transduction mechanisms in the effects of drugs. Tachyphylaxis and tolerance
4. Mechanisms of antagonism. Inverse agonism
5. The role of transport and membranes in pharmacokinetics
6. Absorption of drugs
7. Distribution of drugs. The competition of elimination and distribution
8. Metabolism of drugs
9. Elimination: general concerns and timing. The clearance. Excretion of drugs
10. Basic concepts of pharmacokinetics. Therapeutic regimens. Individualization of drug therapy
11. Drug formulations. Prescription writing
12. Drug research and development
13. Future perspectives of pharmacology
14. Cholinergic agonists and cholinesterase inhibitors
15. Muscarinic receptor antagonists
16. Neuromuscular blocking agents
17. Agents acting on noradrenergic neurons
18. Adrenergic receptor agonists
19. Adrenergic receptor antagonists
20. Pharmacology of the purinergic system, nitric oxide, protein and peptide mediators
21. Calcium channel blockers
22. Drugs acting on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
23. Diuretic drugs
24. Drugs used to treat congestive heart failure
25. Antianginal drugs
26. Antiarrhythmic drugs
27. Antihypertensive drugs
28. Basic principles of fluid therapy
29. Drugs used to treat hyperlipoproteinemias
30. Anticoagulants, antiplatelet drugs
31. Fibrinolytics, antifibrinolytics, hemostatic agents
32. Drugs affecting hematopoiesis
33. Histamine, antihistaminic drugs
34. Serotonin, serotonin receptor agonists and antagonists. Drug treatment of migraine
35. Pharmacology of eicosanoids. Drugs acting on the smooth muscle
36. Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, paracetamol, metamizole
37. Drugs that increase regional blood flow. Drugs used to treat gout
38. Immunosuppressants, immunomodulators
39. Drug treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis
40. Antineoplastic drugs: cytotoxic drugs
41. Antineoplastic drugs: biological therapy
42. Drugs used to treat bronchial asthma
43. Drug treatment of allergic rhinitis. Antitussives, expectorants and mucolytics

Upon the oral exam, 2 exam topics are chosen. In addition to these exam topics, important parts of the exam are the questions that aim at assessing the general knowledge of the student. Bad performance in this part of the exam may lead to failure regardless of the answers to exam topics.

Examiners

• Borbély Éva
• Börzsei Rita Judit
• Gasznerné Kormos Viktória
• Horváth Ádám István (Farmakológia)
• Pethő Gábor István
• Pozsgai Gábor
• Sándor Zoltán (1968, Farmakológia)
• Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• Simonné Hajna Zsófia Réka
• Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna

Instructor / tutor of practices and seminars

• Borbély Éva
• Börzsei Rita Judit
• Csekő Kata
• Fülöp Barbara
• Gasznerné Kormos Viktória
• Hetényi Csaba
• Horváth Ádám István (Farmakológia)
• Király Ágnes Éva
• Konkoly János
• KURZUSHOZ RENDELT OKTATÓ
• Pethő Gábor István
• Pozsgai Gábor
• Sánticsné Pintér Erika
• Simonné Hajna Zsófia Réka
• Tamasikné Helyes Zsuzsanna
• Zsidó Balázs Zoltán