Pharmacodynamics: Foundations
The other half — what the drug does to the body, and the targets it acts on.
What Is Pharmacodynamics? What the Drug Does to the Body
You already know how a drug travels through the body — absorbed, distributed, metabolized, cleared. But none of that explains WHY it heals. A tablet doesn't cure by being present; it cures by grabbing a specific molecule and changing what that molecule does. This is pharmacodynamics — the second half of every drug's story, and the half that explains both the benefit you want and the side effect you don't.
Drug Targets: Receptors, Enzymes, Ion Channels and Transporters
Pharmacokinetics asked how the body moves a drug. Pharmacodynamics asks the opposite: once the drug arrives, what does it grab hold of? Almost every useful medicine works by binding one of just four kinds of protein — a receptor, an enzyme, an ion channel, or a transporter. Learn to name the target and you can predict the effect, the side effects, and half the exam. This is the map before the map.
