Introduction to Pharmacology

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Summer 1998 by Skau, Kenneth A

MANFRED A HOLLINGER. Introduction to Pharmacology. Bristol PA: Taylor & Francis Ltd., 1997. xiv 291 pp., 33 figs., 31 tbls., $29.95.

I wanted to like this book. I am looking for an introductory text for my course Principles of Pharmacology. Hollinger's text appeared to be what I wanted. It is relatively inexpensive, authored by a prominent pharmacologist from the University of California (Davis) and a perusal of the Table of Contents suggested that the major areas of Pharmacodynamics are covered. Unfortunately, after reading the book I was disappointed and will not use it. There are numerous biases, misinterpretations, errors and sloppy preparation of the text.

My disillusionment began with the Preface which states: "...pharmacology itself is rarely taught on the undergraduate level. It is generally reserved for postbaccalaureate students who are enrolled in health curricula associated with medicine. dentistry nursing, and the veterinary sciences:". There is no mention of the profession whose focus is drugs: pharmacy. The Introduction states: pharmacology should be distinguished from the profession of pharmacy, whose responsibilities include the identification, verification, standardization, compounding, and dispensing of drugs and dosage forms of drugs." Perhaps the author could be excused for his 30 year out of date definition of pharmacy, in that he is at a campus that does not have a pharmacy school. However, it seems to me that if he is going to make statements about professions in a textbook. he should check the accuracy of those statements.

There are a number of references to historical development of the use of drugs. I find this refreshing in that too many educators ignore history. Unfortunately, there are also several errors. The hook suggests that Chinese medicine did not begin until about 500 B.C., ignoring the contributions of Shen Nung whom some historians place around 2900 B.C. Furthermore, it is stated that Buchheim established the first Pharmacological Lab at the University of Dorpat in Hungary. Dorpat, now Tartu, is in Estonia.

There are a number of scientific errors in this book, also. The author refers to the use of tobacco enemas as purgatives to induce vomiting. He states that nicotine has been introduced into the body by more routes than any other drug. (What about corticosteroids?) In a discussion about grapefruit juice and drugs he refers to drinking a "1500 ml" glass of juice. He equates potentiation and synergy. His definition for noncompetitive inhibitors is only for allosteric and not irreversible inhibitors. The discussion of stereochemistry is confusing and has factual errors.

There are a number of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors throughout the book. In a pharmacology text one cannot tolerate misspelling of drugs such as isotretoin and sulphinpyrazone. The author appeared to have an aversion to the use of possessive apostrophes and several times confused words such as effect and affect, principle and principal. The book has a glossary, which I was happy to see. This type of book should have a reference for students to look up unfamiliar words. The glossary was somewhat confusing as there were many words and terms that were never used in the book. Also, I counted at least a dozen definitions that I believe were misleading, incomplete or outright wrong. I am concerned that such errors might result in more harm than benefit.

In conclusion, I would welcome a brief, general text on pharmacodynamic principles that can be used to introduce students to concepts of pharmacology. This text contains too many errors and misinformation to be useful in my courses.

Kenneth A. Skau

University of Cincinnati