Pharmacology Articles

7 August 2011

REVIEW ON OCULAR DRUG DELIVERY

About Authors: Divya Gupta,
M.Pharm (Pharmaceutics),
Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dehradun

Introduction
In the words of Hughes and Mitra2: “ophthalmic drug delivery is one of the most interesting and challenging endeavours facing the pharmaceutical scientist...The anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the eye render this organ exquisitely impervious to foreign substances...The challenge to the formulator is to circumvent the protective barriers of the eye without causing permanent tissue damage...The primitive ophthalmic solutions, suspensions and ointment dosage forms are clearly no longer sufficient to combat some present virulent diseases...”

Eye is a unique and very valuable organ. This is considered a window hinge. We can enjoy it and look at the world body. There are many eye diseases that can affect the body and loss of vision as well. Therefore, many eyes in drug delivery systems are available. They are classified as traditional and new drug development system. Topical application of drugs to the eye is the most popular and well-accepted route of administration for the treatment of various eye disorders. The bioavailability of ophthalmic drugs is, however, very poor due to efficient protective mechanisms of the eye. Blinking, baseline and reflex lachrymation, and drainage remove rapidly foreign substances, including drugs, from the surface of the eye [1].
3 August 2011

Liver Enzymes

About Authors: Sharath Babu
M.Pharm, Mallareddy Institute of Pharmacy

Liver Enzymes
Four separate liver enzymes are included on most routine laboratory tests. They are-aspartate aminotransferase (AST or SGOT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT or SGPT), which are known together as transaminases; and alkaline phosphatase (AP) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), which are known together as cholestatic liver enzymes. Elevations of these enzymes can indicate the presence of liver disease.
2 August 2011

Combinatorial Chemistry and Contemporary Pharmacology

About Authors: Aswini K. Reddy, Swetha Yasa, Srivally Challa, Masoom. md
Mallareddy Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hyderabad

ABSTRACT
Both solid- and liquid-phase combinatorial chemistry have emerged as powerful tools for identifying pharmacologically active compounds and optimizing the biological activity of a lead compound. Complementary high-throughput in vitro assays are essential for compound evaluation. Cell-based assays that use optical endpoints permit investigation of a wide variety of functional properties of these compounds including specific intracellular biochemical pathways, protein-protein interactions, and the subcellular localization of targets. Integration of combinatorial chemistry with contemporary pharmacology now represents an important factor in drug discovery and development.

This is an exceptionally exciting time in the field of pharmacology. The environment for the identification of new therapeutic targets and agents that interact with these targets has rapidly changed with the application of genetic tools and genomics. Extrapolation from the genomic sequencing of lower organisms suggests that there will be a 10-fold increase in the number of potential human therapeutic targets in the next several years with the completion of the Human Genome Project (Drews, 1996). This is leading to a fundamental transformation in pharmacology; no longer is there a dearth of molecular targets for small molecules. Rather, the emphasis is now on validating whether or not the targets are appropriate for therapeutic intervention, on generating large arrays of compounds that represent diverse portions of “chemical space”, and developing methods to quickly assess the credentials of small molecules as target disrupters. We believe many of the tools and reagents that are being developed to facilitate this scientific activity will emerge as vital for future academic pharmacological research. Perhaps most important will be the exploitation of combinatorial chemistry libraries, which are becoming widely available. Although we cannot comprehensively review this broad topic here, the goal of this brief commentary is to portray some of the strategies and potentials of combinatorial chemistry libraries as they relate to pharmacological studies.
1 August 2011

REVIEW ON ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES

About Authors: Shoeib Afroz Mohammad,
M.Pharm (Pharmacology),
Vaagdevi College of Pharmacy, Kakatiya University

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1087

BACKGROUND:
By the 1930s, scientists had isolated and determined the structure of the steroid hormones and found that high doses of androgens, estrogens or progesterone inhibited ovulation. The first oral-contraceptive formulations marketed in the United States, in 1960 and1961, contained 2 to 5 times as much estrogen and 5 to 10 times as much progestin as the oral contraceptives now in use. Since introduced in May of 1960, these pills have provided reliable contracep¬tion for millions of woman throughout the world.They were given in a regimen consisting of 21 active tablets containing estrogen and progestin followed by 7 days of placebo tablets (21/7 regimen). The 7 days of placebo was designed for menses to occur during that time. The use of these high-dose formulations was linked to increased risks of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and pulmonary embolism in healthy young women. The estrogen and progestin were reduced rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s because of concern about safety and because the reduction of the doses did not reduce the contraceptive effectiveness.The reductions in the dose of estrogen are believed to have decreased the risk of venous thrombosis. The combination estrogen–progestin oral contraceptives that are now on the market contain estrogen at doses ranging from 20 to 50 μg of ethinyl estradiol or, uncommonly, mestranol. Currently there are over 70 different brands on the market. 1
25 July 2011

Prescription Monitoring of Antihypertensive Drug Utilization for Uncomplicated Hypertension Patients in a Tertiary Hospital: A Cross Sectional Study in the Inpatient Wards

About Authors: N. V. R. Praveen Kumar. T, Mohanta. G. P, Sudarshan. S# and Parimalakrishnan. S.
Department of Pharmacy, Annamalai University,
Annamalai Nagar – 608002.Tamil Nadu, India.
# Department of Medicine, Rajah Muhtiah Medical College and Hospital, Annamalai University,
Annamalai Nagar – 608002.Tamil Nadu, India.

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1079

Abstract
Objective
The study was conducted to identify and evaluate the Prescription Monitoring of Antihypertensive Drug Utilization for Uncomplicated Hypertension Patients.

Methodology
This was a prospective observational study and was approved by IRB. The study was conducted in tertiary care teaching hospital, which is located at southern part of India having 1210 beds. Totally 1262 prescriptions were studied.

Results
Total distribution of patients with respect to age group showed that highest number of patients was found in the age group of 60-69 years (31.3%) and least was found between 20-29 years age group (1.1%). Majority of males in the study population (43.29%) were found to have both the habits of smoking and alcohol. Among concomitant diseases that were related to hypertension Coronary artery disease was highest (67.78%) and giddiness was least (1.7%). In case of diseases unrelated to hypertension Type II diabetes mellitus was observed as highest (38.7%) and acute gastroenteritis was recorded least (5.68%). Overall 43.5% patients were treated with single antihypertensive drug and 53.8% were treated with antihypertensive drug combinations.
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20 July 2011

Effect of Treatment of Prulifloxacin Induced Arthropathy in Young Rats

About Authors: Rekha. S^1*
^1*Department of Pharmacology, Mother Theresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Indira Nagar, Gorimedu, Puducherry 605 006.
Kavimani. S¹
¹Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, Mother Theresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Puducherry.

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1069

Summary
Objective
The present study was undertaken to further evaluate the adverse effect potential of Prulifloxacin to induce arthropathy in rats with reference to its duration of treatment.

Methods
Groups of one month old young rats were administered Prulifloxacin intraperitonially 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg doses for 15 and 30 days respectively. Control group received normal saline. At the end of treatment
period, animals in each group were subjected to serum alkaline phosphatase estimation. The serum alkaline phosphatase assay was carried out by using alkaline phosphatase reagent kit.
28 May 2011

Analytical Method Development and Validation for Pre - Clinical Analysis

About Author: Kale Vishal Bibhishan
Department Of Pharmacy, School Of Chemical Engineering and Bio-Technology
SASTRA UNIVERSITY, Thanjavur-613402, Tamil Nadu, INDIA

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1064

Abstract
Pre-clinical phase is a laboratory test of a new drug on animal subjects, conducted together evidence justifying a clinical trial. For those drugs which are in clinical phase, method development requires various pre-clinical bioanalytical support parameters. Bioanalytical support plays a pivotal role in answering a series of questions concerning the toxicity, pharmacokinetic parameters, safety assessment, formulation optimization .Once method development process was initiated one should know the different techniques of sampling, handling, sample preparation methods that are suitable and problems in it. After sample preparation, suitable analytical techniques have to be selected for method development. The developed method now have to be validated, for this, Initially “Analytical Instrument Qualification” has to be performed which includes four main phases- Design qualification, Installation qualification, Operational qualification and Performance qualification. Method is said to be validated when all considered validation parameters like linearity, specificity, selectivity etc are within the limits. Thus the method is developed and validated for a drug in preclinical phase using analytical technique of suitable sensitivity and selectivity.
22 May 2011

PULSATILE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM: A REVIEW

About Author: VIPUL P. PATEL1*, TUSHAR R. DESAI2, CHETAN R. MATHOLIYA, RAVI B. CHHAYANI
1. Assistant professor, Department of pharmaceutics,
R. K. College of Pharmacy, Kasturbadham,Rajkot.
2. Principal, Department of pharmacology,
R. K. College of Pharmacy, Kasturbadham,Rajkot.
3. Research Scholar, R. K. College of Pharmacy, Kasturbadham, Rajkot.

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1060

Abstract
Pulsatile Drug Delivery Systems are gaining a lot of interest as they deliver the drug at the right place at the right time and in the right amount, thus providing spatial and temporal delivery and increasing patient compliance. These systems are designed according to the circadian rhythm of the body. The principle rationale for the use of pulsatile release of the drugs is where a constant drug release is not desired. A pulse has to be designed in such a way that a complete and rapid drug release is achieved after the lag time. Various systems like capsular systems, osmotic systems, single- and multiple-unit systems based on the use of soluble or erodible polymer coating and use of rupturable membranes have been dealt with in the article. It summarizes the latest technological developments, formulation parameters, and release profiles of these systems. These systems are beneficial for the drugs having chronopharmacological behavior where night time dosing is required, such as anti-arhythmic and anti-asthmatic. Current review article discussed the reasons for development of pulsatile drug delivery system, types of the disease in which pulsatile release is required, classification, advantages, limitation, and future aspects of pulsatile drug delivery system.
15 May 2011

ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMAL TESTING: A VANTAGE OVER ANIMAL MODELS

About Author: Tapan Behl*, Neha Chauhan, Harlokesh Narayan Yadav
Department of Pharmacology,
I.S.F. College of Pharmacy,
Moga - 142001, Punjab, India

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1063

Abstract
Animal testing had been in practice from the last many decades. Animal testing and experimentation leads to killing and cruelty of hundreds of thousands of animlas each year. Misconception is so much about the general public that the use of animals is considered mandatory for meeting the learning objectives. The existence of methods like In vitro pyrogen test, embryonic stem cell test, carcinogenicity test etc. has paved the good pathway for the usage of alternatives to animal experimentation. Alternatives to animal experiments can only be put into practice by the general awareness of the public about the animal welfare, the tediousness of the animal methods, and the expensive and time consuming nature of these methods. In this review a various alternative testing methods are discussed so that pavement should be directed into a meaningful research, healing and protection and is mandatory for restoring faith and respect in medical profession. This review will provide an insight on the various alternatives to animal experimentation so that a path can be lighted which would be terror free and without dragging the animal to a life of horror and unbearable pain.

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14 May 2011

An Emerging Complication of P. Vivax Malaria with Comparison of P. Falciparum Malaria

About Author: Dr.Ravindra Kembhavi, Asso. Professor PSM Department,
KEM hospital, Parel, Mumbai
Dr.Mahesh Ghadage, M.Sc pharmaceutical 2^nd year student,
KEM hospital, Parel, Mumbai

Reference ID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1057

Abstract
Severe or complicated P. vivax malaria seldom results in pulmonary damage, and pulmonary complications are exceedingly rare while acute renal failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), hypoglycemia, coma, or epileptic seizures this are manifestations of severe or complicated P. falciparum malaria.