For awarding of credits is needed:

- 100% participation on practical lessons (one can be missed without compensation and two must be compensate)

- obtain minimum 51% from short tests (weekly tests) and credit test in the winter and spring semester and (the evaluation is included to the final evaluation in exam)

- pass successfully the exam.

By completing the course, the student will acquire basic knowledge of general and special pharmacology. The student will learn how to calculate drug doses for animals and how to prescribe drugs. He/she will be familiar with drugs classed in different pharmacotherapeutic groups (antibacterials, antivirals, antiparasitics, drugs affecting organ systems, drugs influencing metabolism), which are used for the treatment of various diseases and optimization of animal health. The student will be able to describe the mechanisms of action of drugs, their indications, adverse effects and contraindications. At the same time, he/she will be informed about the drug forms used in veterinary medicine and about the way how to obtain data of drugs registered in Slovakia. Completing the course the student is prepared for further clinical subjects in the area of therapy of animal diseases.

The education process is focused on three parts: pharmacology (general and special), pharmacy and pharmacotherapeutics. The principles of three phases drugs-organism interactions are determined by the general pharmacology:

- the pharmaceutical phase is aimed to incompatibilities in vitro, disintegration of the dosage form and release of the active substance;

- the pharmacokinetic phase determines the fate of administered substances in the living organism (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) and

- the pharmacodynamic phase accounts for the interaction of the drug with respect to the receptor of subsequent therapeutic effect.

A part of general pharmacology explains the basic principles of dosage regimen, interactions with co-administration of several substances, adverse effects of drugs, the drugs residues and their determination in food.

The special pharmacology is focused on the description of drugs used in the pharmacotherapy of infectious diseases (antimicrobials) against parasites (antiparasites), for disinfection and the drugs affecting individual organ systems (CNS drugs, autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system etc.).

The part of Pharmacy comprises legislation connected with performance of veterinary pharmacy, classification and characteristics of dosage forms and their preparation.

The part of Pharmacotherapeutics contains information about the most frequently used mass produced preparations in clinical practice with emphasis on contraindications, interactions and side effects in animals.

Syllabus of Lectures:

1. The historical development of pharmacy and pharmacology; the role, importance and subdivisions of pharmacology. Connection of pharmacology with other scientific subjects. Pharmacological nomenclature, designation of drugs, drug names and common dosage (drug) forms. An assortment of the veterinary pharmaceuticals. The specifics of veterinary pharmacotherapy. The mode of drug utilization; causal, symptomatic, substitutional, palliative and combined therapy.

2. Dosage regimen, drug doses, therapeutic index (range) and wideness. The manifestation of the drug effects, basic data from the dose-response relationship. Administration of drugs: intravascular and extravascular administration.

3. Division of dosage (drug) forms. Solid, semisolid and liquid dosage forms.

4. Fate of drugs in the body. Main phases of drug action: pharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic phases.

Pharmacokinetics: drug absorption and distribution. Compartmental theory. The interaction of drugs. Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical interactions. Chemical and physical incompatibility.

5. Pharmacokinetics: drug elimination (biotransformation and excretion of drugs). The phases, metabolites, main parameters. Elimination of drugs by kidneys, liver, gut, and other organs. Drugs in milk and eggs. Kinetics of the elimination. Clearance methods. Biotransformation interactions. Induction of enzymes.

6. Pharmacodynamics. Mechanism of drug action and effect from the molecular point of view. Specific pharmacological receptors. Drug-receptor interactions. Structure-activity relationship. Potency, selectivity and specificity of drug. Receptor regulation and drug tolerance. Pharmacodynamic type of interactions.

7. Side effects of drugs, adverse drug reactions. Factors influencing the drug effect. Acute, subchronic and chronic toxicity. Mutagenic, carcinogenic, embryotoxic and teratogenic effect of drugs and their metabolites. Veterinary drug residues in the food of animal origin. Origin of residues. Maximum intake of residues and some other terms. Determination the maximum residue limits of vet. medicinal products, withdrawal time.

8. Drugs used against infectious diseases. Division. Antibacterial strategy and their main principles. Rational use of antimicrobial agents. Antibiotics: sources, chemical structure, mode of action on microbes. Combination of antibiotics. Microbial resistance. Degree and extent. Kinds and types of resistance: natural (primary), acquired (secondary), extra chromosomal and crosswise. Factors influencing the rise of resistance. Undesired side effects. Risk of antibiotic residues in food.

9. Penicillins - division, pharmacokinetics of individual salts, solubility, combination of penicillins, antimicrobial spectrum; biosynthetic, semisynthetic, beta-lactamase stable and broad-spectrum penicillins; penicillins active gainst pseudomonas. Cephalosporins of 1st - 4th generations. Other beta-lactam antibiotics.

10. Aminoglycoside and aminocyclitol antibiotics. Tetracyclines of 1st - 3rd generations.

11. Amphenicols. Macrolides, lincosamides and miscellaneous antimicrobials.

12. Sulfonamides (division, absorption, distribution, metabolism, mechanism of action and spectrum of effect, systemic and topical use, side effects, acute and chronic toxicity).

13. Quinolones: division, mechanism of action and spectrum of effect, pharmacokinetic, therapeutic indications and clinical uses, side effects. Nitrofurans.

Syllabus of Practicals:

1. Weight units used in pharmacology (SI and other); calculation of drug doses and dilutions of liquid drugs. Calculation of drug doses based on animal’s body surface area.

2. Basics of Latin necessary for prescription of drugs (conjugations, declinations, numerals and abbreviations used in prescription).

3. European Pharmacopoeia - division and definition of basic terms. Veterinary drug handbooks (Compendiums) - composition, dosage forms, drug monographs, used abbreviations; withdrawal times (periods); package inserts.

4. Prescription - general information, the importance, the structure, the types of prescriptions and the main principles of prescribing of drugs.

5. Prescription of mass-produced medicinal products - injectable preparations (pharmaceuticals).

6. Prescription of mass-produced medicinal products intended to the owner’s hands (application by the animal owner). Prescription of medicinal mixtures.

7. Prescription of solid dosage (drug) forms.

8. Preparation of solid drug forms and verification of household measures and their importance to prescription of solid drug forms.

9. Prescription of liquid dosage forms.

10. Preparation of liquid drug forms – solutions with solubisers, suspensions, emulsions. Verification of household measures used in aplication of liquid drug forms.

11. Prescription of semisolid dosage forms. Prescription of narcotic and psychotropic substances; officinal (non-pharmacopoeial) preparations.

12. Credit test. Preparation of semisolid dosage forms.

13. Comparison of the prescription of individualy preapred preaparations and mass-produced medicinal products. Drug administration. Awarding of Credits.

1./ Adams H.R. (ed.): Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 8th Edition, Iowa State Press - A Blackwell Publishing Company, 2001, 1174 pp.

2./ Riviere J.E., Papich M.G. (ed.): Veterinary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 9th Edition, Blackwell Publishing, 2009, 1524 pp.

3./ Šutiak V., Berecký I., Lopuchovský J.: Guide-book of Prescriptions and Practical Pharmacological Exercises, UVM Košice, 2002, 270 pp.

4./ Brenner G.M., Stevens C.W.: Pharmacology, 2nd Edition, Saunders, 2006, 510 pp.

5./ Wanamaker B. P., Massey K. L.: Applied Pharmacology for the Veterinary Technician, 3rd Edition, Saunders, 2004, 436 pp.

6./ The Merck Veterinary Manual: http://www.merckvetmanual.com

7./ Plumb D.C.: Plumb’s Veterinary Drug Handbook, 6th Edition, Blackwell Publishing, 2008, 1463 pp.

Content prerequisite:

The study of Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Pharmacotherapeutics requires the attendance of following subjects: Latin terminology, Anatomy I, Anatomy II, Biochemistry and Physiology.

Continuous assessment:

The student´s performance will be assessed by the use of current tests (small tests) between the 2nd and 11th week and credit test in the 12th week of the semester. A minimum of 51% must be achieved from each small test and credit test. The obtained avarage percentages from the winter and spring semester are included in the final examination.

Conditions for completion of course:

For awarding of credits is needed:

- 100% participation on practical lessons (one can be missed without compensation and two must be compensate)

- obtain minimum 51% from short tests (weekly tests) and credit test in the winter and spring semester and (the evaluation is included to the final evaluation in exam)

- pass successfully the exam.

Final assessment:

Students finish the course with an exam. A condition for passing the exam is obtaining a credit.

Credits are awarded on the base of successful small tests from the winter and spring semester and credit test.

The examination test consists of questions from practical exercises (including prescription, pharmacy and pharmacotherapeutics), general and special pharmacology. The students’ performance and knowledge will be assessed and the results expressed in percentages according to the classification: 91-100% A and 81-90% B 71-80% C 61-70% D 51-60% E 50 and less Fx.