Disciplines and Occupations

Pharmacology

The study of the origin, nature, properties, and actions of drugs and their effects on living organisms.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

The study of the origin, nature, properties, and actions of drugs and their effects on living organisms.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Narrower headings

MeSH Qualifier

Used as a Subheading

Pharmacology is also a MeSH subheading (qualifier Q000494), attached to other headings to focus them on this aspect:

Used with drugs and exogenously administered chemical substances for their effects on living tissues and organisms. It includes acceleration and inhibition of physiological and biochemical processes and other pharmacologic mechanisms of action.

Qualifier ID
Q000494
Qualifier Tree
Y07

Indexing annotation

subhead only; with exogenous chemicals only; includes "effect", "mechanism of action", "mode of action"; not for pharmacokinetics ( = /pharmacokinetics); see also /adverse effects, /poisoning & /toxicity; see MeSH scope note in Introduction; indexing policy: Manual 19.8.54; DF: /pharmacol or /PD

Subheading synonyms

  • mechanism of action
  • mode of action
  • pharmacodynamics
  • pharmacologic action

Qualifier graph

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Related Concepts

Knowledge Graph

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MeSH Record

See Also

MeSH Record

Synonyms

1 entry terms
  • Pharmacologies

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

12 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings classification, economics, education, ethics, history, instrumentation, legislation & jurisprudence, methods, organization & administration, standards, statistics & numerical data, trends.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

the discipline (education, history, etc) only; use PHARMACOLOGICAL AND TOXICOLOGICAL PHENOMENA or specifics treed under it for the properties of drugs and their metabolism and interactions; the qualifier /pharmacology is available for use with drugs and chemicals; methods: consider TECHNOLOGY, PHARMACEUTICAL

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. H01w.158w.703w
  2. H02w.628w

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

QV 21

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Pharmacology. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D010600. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D010600
  2. Pharmacology. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacology
  3. Pharmacology. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128406