Introduction

Aim of the Course on Chronopharmacology

Chronotherapeutics is gaining increasing interest in medicine,

pharmacy, drug delivery and in the use of drugs as a pharmacological tool in animal
experiments. It is the intention of the Course to promote and encourage these
developments by reaching out to scientists and practitioners in medicine, biology,
pharmacy, molecular biology, vetenary medicine and in experimental and clinical
pharmacology.

Circadian Rhythm
 A biological rhythm is an adaptive
phenomenon of both individuals and species relating to predictable changes in
environmental factors linked to the rotation of the earth around its axis in 24 hours as
well around the sun in 365 days. Circadian rhythms are endogenously driven by
biological clocks found in single cells, flowers, animals and men and in which "clock
genes" are expressed.

Chronopharmacology
 The study of
rhythmic, predictable-in-time differences in the effects and/or pharmacokinetics of drugs
both in experimental animals and in men. It investigates the effects/side effects of drugs
upon temporal changes in biological functions or symptoms of a disease as well as drug
effects as a function of biologic timing.