Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology

The Section of Pharmacology brings together faculty members belonging to the Scientific Disciplinary Sector BIO/14 and hosts two Hospital Departmental Units (SOD) of the Careggi University Hospital: the SOD of Applied Pharmacology and the SOD of Clinical Toxicology. The section is characterized by a translational development pathway for medicines, from the preclinical phase to Pharmacovigilance and Toxicology, complementing pharmaceutical chemistry and clinical activities.

The Section of Pharmacology is organized into the following Units: Neuropharmacology; Cardiopharmacology; Inflammation Pharmacology and Immunopharmacology; Antitumor Pharmacology; Experimental and Clinical Toxicology; Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology. These units employ state-of-the-art experimental approaches to identify drug mechanisms of action for potential clinical use.

In collaboration with the Section of Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Sciences, it evaluates synthesized prototypes (leads) for specific targets and, for each potentially active compound or natural extract, can analyze:

1. Pharmacokinetic properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination)

2. Pharmacodynamic properties

3. Adverse effects and Experimental Toxicology

4. Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Toxicology

Neuropharmacology: identification of the role of histaminergic, dopaminergic, serotonergic, purinergic, adrenergic, cholinergic, GABAergic, and glutamatergic modulation in cognitive processes and in anxiety, depression, stress, food intake, oxidative stress, and inflammatory and neuropathic pain states; identification of ligands potentially active in the aforementioned conditions as well as in apoptotic, ischemic, neuroprotective, and neuroregenerative processes.

Electrophysiological and neurochemical studies of synaptic plasticity (long-term potentiation/depression, depotentiation) in rodent hippocampal slices.

Cardiopharmacology: identification of pacemaker and cellular mechanisms involved in cardiac arrhythmias and of new antiarrhythmic drugs; electrophysiological remodeling under physiological (postnatal cell maturation, stem cell differentiation) and pathological (infarction, hypertrophy, atrial fibrillation) conditions.

Pharmacology of cardiovascular risk factors (diabetes, obesity).

Experimental and Clinical Toxicology: Experimental Toxicology focuses on intestinal carcinogenesis in in vivo and in vitro models, chemoprevention, intestinal inflammation, and genotoxic damage.

Oxidative damage in experimental diabetes and in humans. In vitro and in vivo models of aging. Interventions with drugs and natural food-derived compounds. Study of the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes.

Clinical Toxicology addresses diseases related to all types of acute poisoning and to non-occupational chronic intoxications.

Inflammation Pharmacology and Immunopharmacology: in vitro and in vivo models of inflammatory and immuno-allergic diseases of the central nervous system and of peripheral organs such as the respiratory and ocular systems, with the aim of investigating the protective actions of autacoids and molecules active on the histaminergic system, nitric oxide donors, and inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase and PARP.

Antitumor Pharmacology: study of the cytotoxic activity of new compounds with potential antitumor effects and of molecular mechanisms of sensitivity/resistance to anticancer drugs in preclinical tumor models; pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic studies, with particular reference to the identification of molecular determinants responsible for tumor drug resistance or toxicity to anticancer agents in major solid and hematologic neoplasms.

Pharmacovigilance – Phytovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology: detection of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) using regional and national databases to identify “signal alarms” due to drug-related disorders; design and conduct of pharmacoepidemiological studies concerning use, effectiveness, and safety of medicines and herbal products; analysis of ADRs reported in Tuscany.