Cha. 3: A Brief Intro to Science of Pharmacology Flashcards
What is the difference between prime effects and side effects?
Prime Effects have to do with the effect that you want from taking the chemical while side effects are unwanted effects from chemical
List the ways chemicals are administered.
Enteral
Parenteral
Intranasal
Inhalation
Describe enteral forms of administration.
Entered through gastrointestinal tract (mouth, sublingual, and rectal)
* Capsule, tablet, liquid, sublingual (dissolves under tongue), inhaling, suppository
Describe parenteral forms of administration.
Injection of a compound
- Subcutaneous: just under skin. Slowest
- Intramuscular Injection: into muscle tissue. Absorbed more rapidly than subcutaneous
- Intravenous (IV): into vein. Fastest way to get substance from site of admin to site of use
Describe inhalation forms of administration.
Breathing the substance in heavily
* Whippit, computer cleaner, glue, marker, spray paint, any aerosol cans
Describe intranasal forms of administration.
Snorting, similar to inhalation, but through nose
* Cocaine
Define bioavailability.
Getting a chemical from the site of administration to the site of action
The _____ is the most common site of action; why?
The brain because it is mostly composed of lipids (fats) and things get stored there easily. Also, many chemicals are lipid soluble chemicals.
What is another organ that is composed of lipids primarily?
The bowels
_____-soluble chemicals get flushed out eventually, leaving no real residue.
Water
What are the primary organs in the body that primarily metabolize/bio-transform chemicals we put into our body?
The liver primarily then the kidneys.
The liver transforms the chemical into a _____ after bio-transformation.
Metabolite
List the ways chemicals leave the body.
Breathing
Sweating
Urinating
A drug’s half life is composed of:
The elimination half-life and the therapeutic half-life.
Define elimination half-life.
The amount of time it takes for your body to biotransform 1/2 of the active chemical in your system
How many half-lives does it take to completely eliminate a chemical from the system?
Approximately 5 half-lives
Define therapeutic half-life.
The measure of the chemical’s duration of effect
Define effective dose.
How much of a dose it takes of a chemical to be effective on a certain population
Define lethal dose.
How much of a specific chemical would kill a person.
Define therapeutic index.
The ratio of lethal does to effective dose
- Valium’s effective dose is a long way from the lethal dose, which makes it almost impossible to kill a person from overdose
- Valium can be mixed with other chemicals to kill a person, though
Define tolerance.
The need more and more of a given chemical to achieve a certain effect
- Alcohol: slowly
- Valium: quickly
- Even though a person’s tolerance to alcohol can build up, the lethal level of blood alcohol doesn’t change (true for most chemicals)
- Usually, the body will pass out prior, but tolerance allows person to stay awake and continue using, which leads to OD
Define cross-tolerance.
If using a chemical, the person will develop tolerance to chemicals in the same broad grouping
- Anxiolytics: taking a lot of these will develop tolerance to alcohol
- Amphetamines to cocaine
- Cocaine to caffeine
Define reverse-tolerance.
Much less understood; implies tolerance to a chemical can lead to sudden intolerance of the same chemical
- Tolerance to alcohol for years, all of a sudden unable to drink at all
- Not very common
What is the blood-brain barrier?
Complex system that protects the person from things that shouldn’t be there
* Many (if not most) chemicals can cross this
What is the placental barrier?
Protects the fetus from substances that might go into the fetus
* Many (if not most) chemicals can cross this
