TIME DEPENDENT THERAPY BASED ON CHRONOPHARMACOLOGY

Chronopharmacology is useful to solve problems of drug optimization, i.e. to enhance the desired efficiency or to reduce its undesired effects. In the human organism (among other animal species) the metabolic fate of a pharmacologic agent (as well as that of a nutrient) is not constant as a function of time. Thus, the chronobiologic approach of pharmacologic phenomena involves a lesser risk of errors and/or false information than the conventional homeostatic approach. This review focuses on chronopharmacotherapy of various diseases related to different human body systems, and also provides a molecular biological explanation for the influence of medications on the clock genes. Biological rhythms not only impact the pathophysiology of diseases, but the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications. Chronopharmacotherapy is the investigative science that elucidates the biological rhythm dependencies of medications