Behavioral Genetics Flashcards
Drug classes (general)
- based off of the desired effects of the drug (specific to psychopharm)
- chem and pharma categorize based on drug structure and function
Antipsychotics
- three classes:
- –chlorapromazine classes
- –non-phenothiazines
- –new class
-non-phenothiazines (specifically haldol) is the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic
- mechanism for chlorapromazines and non-phenothiazines –> antagonists for D2 receptors
- –inhibit GABA activity –> other D receptor up regulation (inhibiting the inhibition leads to up regulation)
- new class works on 5HT-2A and 2C receptors (mixed agonism antagonism) –> serotonin
- –nonselective for D2 –> low affinity
Antidepressants
- tricyclics
- –oldest; affect all 3 monoamines –> lots of side effects
- MAOIs
- –prevent the breakdown of neurochemicals (norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine) in the presynaptic terminal by inhibiting monoamine oxidase in an indirect action
- –very effective but cannot eat certain foods when on it
- SSRIs
- –inhibit serotonin (and norepinephrine) reuptake, targets synaptic transporters
- –indirect action leads to more neurotransmitter in the synapse
- atypicals
- –affect all sorts of neurotransmitters (dopamine, GABA, etc.)
Anti-anxiety
- hypnotics
- –mostly used in clinic; addictive (not prescribed)
- –exception is antihistamine hypnotics which are prescribed
- anesthetics
- –used for acute pain in the ER (not prescribed)
- benzodiazepines
- –additive effects with other depressants (e.g. alcohol); can be lethal
- –intended to be taken as needed
- new class
- –antidepressants can be used as anti-anxiety
- –work on 5HT and DA (serotonin and dopamine)
Stimulants
- used for bootstrapping
- –speeds up mechanism of action (important for severe episodes; changes to tonic environment take months)
Drug dependency
- for withdrawal symptoms and physiological dependency
- –opiate
- –alcohol
- –stimulant
Bootstrapping
increasing efficiency of a drug by using another drug in addition
Heritability
- the amount of variability in trait that can be determined by biology (usually genetics)
- how much does genetics contribute to the likelihood of developing the disease?
-low heritability means that variability in trait is due to the environment
Inheritance
-chances of getting the disease from your parents (Punnett square)
Twin studies
- useful because genetics are known
- –monozygotic twins share 100% of the same DNA
- –dizygotic twins share 50% of the same DNA
- monozygotic twins are always the same sex
- dizygotic twins can be male and female
all variability in expression of a trait = genetics + known environment + unknown environment
Equal environments assumption
- assumes that monozygotic and dizygotic twins are exposed to the same amount of common environment
- –means that known environment is not affected whether the twins are monozygotic or dizygotic
Concordance
- look at a disease and when one MZ twin has it, look to see the percentage of the second MZ twin having it; do the same for DZ twins –> if there is a significant difference in the concordance rate with the MZ rate being higher then that means the chances of getting that disease is probably due to genetics
- can be used to estimate heritability
Factor analysis
comparing r’s (concordance) for each symptom of a disease and combining them for an overall r for the disease
2 allele model
- linear regression
- the disease is caused by one gene expressed in different ways
- e.g. Huntington’s disease –> more genetic repeats leads to more severe disease
Polygenetic multifactorial threshold (critical mass) model
- non-linear regression
- the disease is caused by multiple genes and their expressions collectively
- e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease
