Top 10 General Pharmacology Questions Every Student Should Know

Q.1 What is Pharmacology?

Ans: Pharmacology is a branch of science that deals with the interaction of drugs with living organisms. Or The study of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics.

Q.2 What is a Drug?

Ans: A drug is any chemical entity that causes a change in biological function in a living organism.some drugs are formed inside the body such as insulin and noradrenaline etc.drugs that are introduced into the body from outside are called Xenobiotics.

Q.3 What Is a Dose?

Ans: A Specific Amount of Drug Prescribed to be taken at one time.

Q.4 What Is Blood Brain Barrier?

It is A Tight Endothelial Cells Of the Brain Capillaries And Glial Cells Of The Brain Around The blood capillaries that doesn’t allow the passage of certain lipid insoluble substances to pass from the blood into the brain.Lipid Soluble Drugs can easily Cross This Barrier.Examples Of Lipid soluble Drugs are; Diazepam, Thiopental, And Phenobarbitol.

Q.5 What is Volume Of Distribution?

Ans: The total Volume Of The Body Fluid in which a drug appears to be distributed according to its concentration in the blood or plasma.VD of a drug can be determined by the following Formula,

VD (Volume OF Distribution) =Total Amount OF Drug In the Body/Concentration of drug in the blood plasma.

Q.6 What Is Potency?

Ans: It is the weight of the drug that produces a certain magnitude of response.For Example Lesser the weight of drug required to produce a given effect, more its potency.Also More the weight of the drug required to produce the same effect lesser its potency.e.g Clonidine Produce its antihypertensive effect in 0.2-0.3mg Daily Dose.While Antihypertensive dose of methyldopa is 500-2000mg Per Day.Thus Clonidine IS more Potent than methyldopa.
Q.7 What Is Efficacy?

Ans:If the dose of a drug is increased its effect will be increased proportionately, until a stage is reached beyond there is no further increase in effect will occur,even if a large dose of drug is given.thix maximum effect of drug beyond which no further increase in its effect occurs even if the dose of the drug is increased to a large amount is called efficacy or maximal efficacy.example morphine has more efficacy than aspirin as an analgesic .morphine is more effective in the severe type of pains while aspirin is effective in mild to moderate pain.

Q.8 What is Therapeutic index?

The ratio between median toxic dose (TD50) and median effective dose (ED50) is called therapeutic index.

Therapeutic index= TD50/ED50

Q.9 What is idiosyncrasy?

It is a rare type of response to a drug that is not related to its dose, that is, even a small dose can cause it.For example.A rare adverse effect with chloramphenicol is aplastic anemia.

Q.10 What is Hypersensitivity?

An allergic or immunological response to a drug .for example anaphylactic shock with penicillin is a severe type of hypersensitivity reaction.