[Practical training of pharmacology in School of Pharmaceutical Sciences: the present and the future]

Pharmacology is one of the fundamental academic disciplines in the educational courses of Schools of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and practical training of pharmacology provides profound educational effects. On the other hand, the contents of practical training are increasingly forced to make several changes, which is motivated by several factors such as limitation in budget, concerns on animal welfare and experience of COVID-19 crisis. In Kumamoto University School of Pharmacy, the content of practical training of pharmacology and anatomy has been changed recently to diminish the usage of experimental animals to minimum necessary. For example, experiments on the effects of drugs on blood pressure in rats have been replaced by practical training with software-based simulations. Experiments on the effects of drugs on contraction responses of small intestines have also incorporated software-based simulations, but in addition, students have a chance to observe contraction of mouse small intestines in Magnus preparations. Several movies of pharmacological experiments using animals and isolated organs are provided to students via e-learning system. The other sets of experiments involve drug treatments and surgical operations in mice, and students are encouraged to handle mice by themselves in these experiments. We should continue efforts for improving the contents of practical training, while considering several factors including educational effects benefited from animal experiments and a purpose of Schools of Pharmaceutical Sciences in developing human resources for basic research of pharmaceutical sciences and life sciences.