Analgesics Flashcards
What is CNS Pharmacology?
How drugs alter brain activity and offset pathology
What is neuropharmacology?
how drugs act on neurons at cellular/molecular level
What is psychopharmacology?
how drugs modify behavior, perception, affect a thought
Why are Large Pharm companies restricting neuropsychiatric drug development efforts?
- Regrettably, recent developments are not that good: large pharm companies severely restricting neuropsychiatric drug development efforts citing
Low chances of successful CNS drug applications
What is a drug?
Drug: A substance used to prevent or treat conditions associated with stimulation or depression of the brain associated with both mental and physical processes
What is the therapeutic importance of drugs?
- Relieve pain and fever
- Suppress disorders of movement or seizures
- Induce sleep or arousal
- Reduce desire to eat
- Inhibit motion sickness
- Treat anxiety, mania, depression
What are prescription drugs?
Prescription Drug: A drug that is limited to use under the supervision of a veterinarian
because of potential danger, difficulty of administration, or other indications
What is a controlled drug?
Controlled Drug: Drugs that have a potential for abuse or dependence;
classified into schedules according to their level of abuse potential
What are CNS Stimulants?CNS Depressants?
Drugs can speed - up the transfer: CNS stimulants
Drugs can slow - down the transfer: CNS depressants
What do CNS drugs act on?
CNS drugs act on specific receptors that modulatecsynaptic transmission
What can alter synaptic transmission?
Some nonspecific agents (alcohol, anesthetics) have
non-receptor-mediated actions that result in
alterations in synaptic transmission
What are the effects of CNS drugs?
- Analgesia: narcotic (opioids) and non-narcotic (NSAIDs & NMDA receptor antagonists)
- Tranquilization (sedation) effects
- Anticonvulsant effects
- Antiemetic effects
- Anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic
- General anesthetic effects
- Behavior changes: CNS stimulants
CNS Depressants (antidepressants, anxiolytic drugs)
What are agonists? What are antagonists?
Agonists:
* Bind to and stimulate target tissue (CNS)
Antagonists:
* Bind to target tissue but don’t stimulate
What are the actions of CNS drugs?
Actions:
* Pharmacokinetics * Pharmacodynamics * Drug distribution * Target tissues and stimulation (CNS: depression or stimulation)
What are the sites and mechanisms of drug action?
What does each number correlate to?
What are the main targets for neuroactive drugs?
Main targets for neuroactive drugs:
Ion channels Receptors Enzymes Transport proteins
Most of the targets occur in several different________ ________, giving rise to subtle differences in ________ and pharmacology
Most of the targets occur in several different molecular isoforms, giving rise to subtle differences in function and pharmacology
Why is slowly developing secondary responses to primary drug interaction important?
- Slowly developing secondary responses to the primary interaction of the drug
with its target are often important (delayed efficacy of antidepressants,
tolerance and dependency with opioids)
What is the blood brain barrier? What is the function?
- The term BBB denotes the highly-selective barrier separating the brain tissue from the blood circulation * The main function is the protection of CNS against toxins, pathogens and even NTs (glutamate)
What is the composition of the BBB?
- The barrier consists of a continuous layer of endothelial cells joined by tight junctions and surrounded by astrocytes
For drugs to gain access to the brain, what must their characteristics be?
- DRUGS:
Small in molecular size (CO2, caffeine, nicotine, heroin)
Lipid soluble (lipophilicity)
Poorly bound to protein
Non-ionized at the pH of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
Diffusion or carrier-mediated transfer (L-DOPA)