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.

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 aspectsâ??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 â??personalised medicineâ??
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