Chapter 15 Flashcards
Pharmacological
Pertaining to the scientific study of drugs.
Psychoactive drugs
Drugs that influence subjective experience and behavior by acting on the nervous system.
Drug metabolism
The conversion of a drug from its active form to a nonactive form.
Drug tolerance
A state of decreased sensitivity to a drug effect that develops as the result of exposure to the drug.
Cross tolerance
Tolerance the the effects of one drug that develops as a result of exposure to another drug that acts by the same mechanism.
Drug sensitization
An increase in the sensitivity to a drug effect that develops as a result of exposure to the drug.
Metabolic tolerance
Tolerance that results form the reduction in the amount of a drug getting to its sites of action.
Functional tolerance
Tolerance resulting from a reduction in the reactivity of the nervous system (or other cites of action) to a drug.
Withdrawal syndrome
The illness brought on by the elimination from the body of a drug on which the person is physically dependent on.
Physically dependent
Being in a state in which discontinuation of drug taking with induce withdrawal reactions.
Drug addicts
Those habitual drug users who continue to use a drug despite its adverse effects on their health and social life, and despite their repeated efforts to stop using it.
Contingent drug tolerance
Drug tolerance that develops as a reaction to the experience of the effects of drugs rather than to drug exposure alone.
Before-and-after design
The experimental design used to demonstrate contingent drug tolerance; the experimental group receives the drug before each of a series of behavioral tests and the control group receives the drug after each test.
Conditioned compensatory responses
Physiological responses opposite to the effects of a drug that are thought to be elicited by stimuli that are regularly associated with experiencing the drug effects.
Exteroceptive stimuli
Stimuli that arise from outside the body.
Interoceptive stimuli
Stimuli that arise from inside the body.
Nicotine
The major psychoactive ingredient in tobacco.
Drug craving
An affective state in which there is a strong desire for the drug.
Smoker’s syndrome
The chest pain, labored breathing, wheezing, coughing, and heightened susceptibility to infections of the respiratory tract commonly observed in tobacco smokers.
Buerger’s disease
A condition in which the blood vessels, especially those suppling the legs, are constricted whenever nicotine enter the bloodstream, the ultimate result being gangrene and amputation
Teratogen
A drug or other chemical that causes birth defects.
Depressant
A drug that depresses neural activity.
Delirium tremens (DTs)
The phase of alcohol withdrawal syndrome characterized by hallucinations, delusions, agitation, confusion, hyperthermia, and tachycardia.
Korsakoff’s syndrome
A neurophysiological disorder that is common in alcoholics and whose primary symptom is severe memory loss.
Cirrhosis
Scarring, typically of the liver.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
A syndrome produced by prenatal exposure to alcohol and characterized by brain damage, mental retardation, poor coordination, poor muscle tone, low birth rate, retarded growth, and/or physical deformity.
Cannabis sativa
The common hemp plant, which is the source of marijuana.
THC
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive constituent of marijuana.
Hashish
Dark corklike material extracted from the resin on the leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa.
Narcotic
A legal category of drugs, mostly opiates.
Anandamide
The first endogenous endocannabinoid to be discovered and characterized.
Stimulants
Drugs that produce general increases in neural and behavioral activity.
Cocaine
A potent catecholamine agonist and stimulant that is highly addictive.
Crack
A potent, cheap, smokable form of cocaine.
Cocaine sprees
Binges of cocaine use.
Cocaine psychosis
Psychotic behavior observed during a cocaine spree, similar in many respects to paranoid schizophrenia.
Amphetamine
A stimulant drug whose effects are similar to those of cocaine.
Empathogens
Psychoactive drugs that produce feelings of empathy.
Dopamine transporters
Molecules in the presynaptic membrane of dopaminergic neurons that attract dopamine molecules in the synaptic cleft and deposit them back inside the neuron.
Opium
The sap that exudes from the seed pods of the opium poppy.
Morphine
The major psychoactive ingredient of opium.
Codeine
A relatively weak psychoactive ingredient of opium.
Opiates
Morphine, codeine, heroin, and other chemicals with similar structures of effects.
Analgesics
Drugs that reduce pain.
Harrison Narcotics Act
The act, passed in 1914, that made it illegal to sell or use opium, morphine, or cocaine in the United States.
Heroin
A powerful semisynthetic opiate.
