252 Pharmacology - Cholinergic Drugs

Question 1

What is acetylcholine?

Answer 1

The neurotransmitter responsible for transmission of nerve impulses to effector cells in the parasympathetic nervous system.

Question 2

What is acetylcholinesterase?

Answer 2

The enzyme responsible for the breakdown of acetylcholine (also referred to simply as cholinesterase).

Question 3

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 3

A disease of the brain characterized by progressive mental deterioration manifested by confusion, disorientation, and loss of memory, ability to calculate, and visual–spatial orientation.

Question 4

What is atony?

Answer 4

A lack of normal muscle tone.

Question 5

What is a cholinergic crisis?

Answer 5

Severe muscle weakness and respiratory paralysis due to excessive acetylcholine; often seen in patients with myasthenia gravis, as an adverse effect of drugs used to treat the disorder.

Question 6

What is a cholinergic receptor?

Answer 6

A nerve receptor that is stimulated by acetylcholine.

Question 7

What is miosis?

Answer 7

Contraction of the pupil.

Question 8

What are muscarinic receptors?

Answer 8

Cholinergic receptors located postsynaptically in the effector organs, such as smooth muscle, heart muscle, and glands supplied by parasympathetic fibres.

Question 9

What are nicotinic receptors?

Answer 9

Cholinergic receptors located in the ganglia (where presynaptic and postsynaptic nerve fibres meet) of both the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system, so named because they can be stimulated by the alkaloid nicotine.

Question 10

What are parasympathomimetics?

Answer 10

Drugs that mimic the parasympathetic nervous system; also referred to as cholinergic agonist drugs.

Question 11

What drug effect do cholinergic drugs have on the intestine and bladder?

Answer 11

• Increased gastric secretions
• Increased gastrointestinal motility
• Increased urinary frequency

Question 12

What drug effect do cholinergic drugs have on the pupil?

Answer 12

• Constriction (miosis)
• Reduced intraocular pressure

Question 13

True or false: Cholinergic drugs increase salivation and sweating.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

What effect do cholinergic drugs have on the cardiovascular system?

Answer 14

• Decreased heart rate
• Vasodilation

Question 15

What are the respiratory effects of cholinergic drugs?

Answer 15

• Bronchial constriction
• Narrowed airways

Question 16

At recommended doses, which receptor do cholinergics primarily effect?

Answer 16

Muscarinic

Question 17

At high doses, which receptors do cholinergics stimulate?

Answer 17

nicotinic

Question 18

For cholinergic drugs, stimulation of which receptor produces the desired effects?

Answer 18

muscarinic

Question 19

What causes many of the undesirable effects of cholinergic drugs?

Answer 19

stimulation of nicotinic receptors

Question 20

List three direct-acting cholinergic drugs.

Answer 20

• pilocarpine
• bethanecol
• succinylcholine