Autonomic Nervous System Drugs Flashcards
Autonomic Nervous System
regulates the body’s involuntary
functions, including heart rate, respiratory rate, and digestion.
Types of drugs used to treat disorders of the autonomic nervous system include:
Cholinergic drugs
Anticholinergic drugs
Adrenergic drugs
Adrenergic blocking drugs.
Cholinergic drugs
promote the action of the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine. These drugs are also called para sympathomimetic
drugs because they produce effects that imitate parasympathetic
nerve stimulation.
Anticholinergic drugs
interrupt parasympathetic nerve impulses in the CNS and autonomic nervous system. They also prevent acetylcholine from stimulating
cholinergic receptors.
Adrenergic drugs
also called sympathomimetic drugs
because they produce effects similar to those produced by the
sympathetic nervous system.
Adrenergic blocking drugs
called sympatholytic drugs, are
used to disrupt sympathetic nervous system function. These drugs
work by blocking impulse transmission
What drug is a catecholamine?
Dopamine
The two sets of neurons in the autonomic component are:
afferent (sensory) neurons and the efferent (motor) neurons.
Efferent
receives impulses, transmits through the spinal cord to effector organ cells
Afferent
sends impulses to the CNS
ANS are divided into two branches:
sympathetic and the parasympathetic nerves.
Sympathetic nervous system
also called the adrenergic
system because at one time it was believed that adrenaline was the neurotransmitter that innervated smooth muscle.
Parasympathetic nervous system
called the cholinergic system because the neurotransmitter at the end of the neuron that innervates the muscle is acetylcholine.
Catecholamines
Has a catechol ring and amines
Noncatecholamines
has no catechol ring
