Module details for Forensic Pharmacology and Toxicology

Description

This module is designed to promote a detailed appreciation of the effects of toxins and drugs on human systems and the approaches to their detection and quantification in accidental and deliberate poisonings. The syllabus will be based around mammalian toxicology with a predominant focus on human examples.

Aims

To provide the student with a detailed appreciation of the interactions between organism and toxicants, and their subsequent effects at molecular, cellular and higher levels of organisation.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module the student should be able to:

1.  Demonstrate a critical understanding of the principles of human pharmacology and toxicology, and of the chemical, cellular and physiological factors that affect the toxicity of compounds.

2.  Discuss the role of pharmacology and toxicology in forensic and environmental investigations, and the range of common drugs and toxicants encountered.

3.  Relate the kinetic and dynamic properties of common drugs and toxicants to the forensic evaluation and clinical management of accidental or deliberate poisonings.

4.  Critically appraise the range of techniques and approaches for sample collection/handling; screening and confirmatory tests; and assessment, interpretation and recording of toxicological data

Indicative Content

1 Mechanisms of drug action and pharmacodynamics.

This will include; receptor signalling; agonists antagonists. Drug− receptor binding and interaction. Examples will be drawn from central nervous system (CNS) receptors, adrenergic cholinergic receptors/neurotransmission.

2 Pharmacokinetics

Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME). Routes of administration and the implications for drug/toxin effect, and the distribution/dispersion of drug/toxins, phase I II metabolism, biotransformation. – including bioactivation. Elimination/Excretion. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting ADME (such as pharmacogenetics). Introduction to quantitative elimination/back−calculation. Case studies.

3 Poisoning Symptoms

Toxicity, Toxidromes and the Treatment of Poisoning.

4 Forensic investigations

History of Forensic Toxicology. Areas of Forensic Toxicology. Environmental Toxicology. Sample types: Advantages, Disadvantages; Sample handling. Screening and confirmatory tests. Post−mortem toxicology. Toxicological reports.

5 Topic case studies.

Case studies based on real clinical, environmental and forensic toxicological cases.

Teaching and Learning Work Loads