A drug interaction is a situation in which a
substance (usually another drug) affects the activity of a drug when both are
administered together. This action can be synergistic (when the drug’s effect
is increased) or antagonistic (when the drug’s effect is decreased) or a new
effect can be produced that neither produces on its own. Typically,
interactions between drugs come to mind (drug-drug interaction). However,
interactions may also exist between drugs and foods (drug-food interactions),
as well as drugs and medicinal plants or herbs (drug-plant interactions).
People taking antidepressant drugs such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors should
not take food containing tyramine as hypertensive crisis may occur (an example
of a drug-food interaction). These interactions may occur out of accidental
misuse or due to lack of knowledge about the active ingredients involved in the
relevant substances.
In the present book, fifteen typical literatures about drug interaction published on international authoritative
journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest progress, which
contains reviews or original researches on medical science, clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug misuse ect. We hope this book can demonstrate advances in drug interaction
as well as give references to the researchers, students and other related
people.