For 25 years, Rang and Dale's Pharmacology has delivered the core basic and clinical science information required by students and healthcare practitioners worldwide. Authors H. P. Rang, J. M. Ritter, R. J. Flower, and G. Henderson have ensured that the 8th Edition of this easy-to-read, comprehensive text continues the tradition of excellence with new coverage of drugs affecting the skin and new components online at Student Consult.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section 1: General principles

1. What is pharmacology?

2. How drugs act: general principles

3. How drugs act: molecular aspects

4. How drugs act: cellular aspects excitation, contraction and secretion

5. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, repair and regeneration

6. Cellular mechanisms: host defence

7. Method and measurement in pharmacology

8. Drug absorption and distribution

9. Drug metabolism and elimination

10. Pharmacokinetics

11. Pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine'

Section 2: Chemical mediators

12. Chemical mediators and the autonomic nervous system

13. Cholinergic transmission

14. Noradrenergic transmission

15. 5-Hydroxytryptamine and the pharmacology of migraine

16. Purines

17. Local hormones: cytokines, biologically active lipids, amines and peptides

18. Cannabinoids

19. Peptides and proteins as mediators

20. Nitric oxide

Section 3: Drugs affecting major organ systems

21. The heart

22. The vascular system

23. Atherosclerosis and lipoprotein metabolism

24. Haemostasis and thrombosis

25. Haemopoietic system and treatment of anaemia

26. Anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant drugs

27. The respiratory system

28. The kidney

29. The gastrointestinal tract

30. The control of blood glucose and drug treatment of diabetes mellitus

31. Obesity

32. The pituitary and the adrenal cortex

33. The thyroid

34. The reproductive system

35. Bone metabolism

Section 4: The nervous system

36. Chemical transmission and drug action in the central nervous system

37. Amino acid transmitters

38. Other transmitters and modulators

39. Neurodegenerative diseases

40. General anaesthetic agents

41. Analgesic drugs

42. Local anaesthetics and other drugs affecting sodium channels

43. Anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs

44. Antiepileptic drugs

45. Antipsychotic drugs

46. Antidepressant drugs

47. CNS stimulants and psychotomimetic drugs

48. Drug addiction, dependence and abuse

Section 5: Drugs used for the treatment of infections, cancer and immunological disorders

49. Basic principles of antimicrobial chemotherapy

50. Antibacterial drugs

51. Antiviral drugs

52. Antifungal drugs

53. Antiprotozoal drugs

54. Anthelminthic drugs

55. Anticancer drugs

Section 6: Special topics

56. Individual variation and drug interaction

57. Harmful effects of drugs

58. Lifestyle drugs and drugs in sport

59. Biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy

60. Drug discovery and development