Biochemical Pharmacology

PrefaceAcknowledgments1 Introduction1.1 Origin and preparation of drugs1.2 Drugs and drug targets1.3 Drug molecules may or may not resemble the physiological ligands of their receptors1.4 Strategies of drug discovery and development2 Pharmacodynamics2.1 Molecular features of drug-receptor interaction2.2 Theory of drug-receptor binding2.3 Dose-effect relationships in signaling cascades2.4 Potency and efficacy2.5 Beneficial and toxic drug effects2.6 Appendix3 Pharmacokinetics3.1 Anatomical barriers to drug transport3.2 Solute transport across cell membranes3.3 Drug application3.4 Drug distribution3.5 Drug elimination via the kidneys3.6 Quantitative experimental methods in pharmacokinetics4 Drug metabolism4.1 Overview: Possible functional outcomes of drug metabolism4.2 Phase I and phase II reactions4.3 Cytochrome P4504.4 Reductive drug metabolism4.5 Conjugation reactions4.6 Enzyme induction4.7 Metabolism-related toxicity as a therapeutic target5 G protein-coupled receptors5.1 Overview5.2 GPCR structure5.3 Structural GPCR families5.4 Activation of GPCRs5.5 GPCR dimerization and oligomerization5.6 G proteins5.7 GPCR phosphorylation, endocytosis, and G protein independent signalling5.8 Appendix6 Pharmacology of cell excitation6.1 Ions, pumps and channels6.2 ATP-driven active ion transport6.3 Voltage-gated channels and the action potential6.4 Channels controlled by intracellular ligands6.5 Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels6.6 Voltage-gated channels of nerve cells as drug targets6.7 Synaptic transmission6.8 Pharmacology of individual transmitters6.9 Appendix7 Hormones7.1 Hormone receptors7.2 The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland7.3 Thyroid gland hormones7.4 Steroid hormones7.5 Endocrine control of bone mineralization8 Pharmacology of nitric oxide8.1 Characterization of nitric oxide as a biological signaling molecule8.2 Nitric oxide synthase and its isoforms8.3 Biochemical mechanisms of NO signaling8.4 The biological function of iNOS8.5 NO-releasing drugs8.6 NOS

Michael Palmer, MD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he teaches courses on metabolism, biological membranes, and biochemical pharmacology.Alice Chan, MSc, is a reader demonstrator at the University of Calgary.Thorsten Dieckmann, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo. He has written over forty articles, papers, abstracts, and presentations.John Honek, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, associate editor for Future Medicinal Chemistry and Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and serves on the editorial boards of BioMed Central Biochemistry, Current Medicinal Chemistry, and Letters in Drug Design and Discovery.