Chapter 4

Question 1

Psychopharmacology

Answer 1

study of the effects of drugs on the human brain, behavior, and psychological states

Question 2

pharmacokinetics

Answer 2

concerns the fate of a drug as it is absorbed, circulates, and reaches site of action

Question 3

pharmacodynamics

Answer 3

concerns the effects of a drug and the mechanism of action

Question 4

absorption

Answer 4

process by which drugs pass from the external world into the bloodstream

Question 5

dosage

Answer 5

the dose of a drug influences the effect on the body

Question 6

distribution

Answer 6

once absorbed into the bloodstream, the drug is distributed throughout the body (liver, kidney, heart, lungs, brain have highest concentration of drug)

Question 7

metabolism

Answer 7

process by which body accepts a drug, alters it chemically, and prepares it for excretion

Question 8

Cytochrome P450

Answer 8

enzyme system that metabolized many drugs

Question 9

Ligand

Answer 9

any man-made substance that binds to receptors

Question 10

receptors

Answer 10

specialized proteins on or within a cell

Question 11

endogenous

Answer 11

if the body contains a specific receptor for a substance, there must be a natural form of the substance

Question 12

exogenous

Answer 12

drugs and toxins from outside the body

Question 13

agonist

Answer 13

mimics the effects of a NT

Question 14

antagonist

Answer 14

prevents a NT from having its effect

Question 15

potency

Answer 15

the lower the dose necessary to produce a desired effect, the more potent it is

Question 16

efficacy

Answer 16

maximum effect that can be produced by a drug

Question 17

half-life

Answer 17

the time it takes for the amount of a drug in the body to be reduced by 50%

Question 18

affinity

Answer 18

degree of chemical attraction between a ligand and a receptor

Question 19

Ingestion

Answer 19

absorption within the gut (slow to moderate speed)

Question 20

Inhalation

Answer 20

takes advantage of the vascularization of the nose and lungs to convey drugs directly into the bloodstream (moderate to fast)

Question 21

Peripheral Injection

Answer 21

can either diffuse into nearby tissue under the skin to reach the bloodstream or drug is injected directly into circulation through veins (moderate to fast)

Question 22

Central Injection

Answer 22

injection directly into the CNS (fast to very fast)

Question 23

what effects the dosage of a drug

Answer 23

the nature of the drug, person’s body weight, prior experience, age, health

Question 24

first order kinetics

Answer 24

rate of metabolism is proportional to the concentration of the drug (most other drugs)

Question 25

zero order kinetics

Answer 25

rate of metabolism is independent of the concentration of alcohol

Question 26

organs involved in metabolism and elimination of drugs

Answer 26

Liver for metabolism, kidney for elimination

Question 27

factors influencing metabolism

Answer 27

genetics, body size, age, time of day, sex, other food or drugs, and environment

Question 28

how do receptors and ligands work

Answer 28

when a ligand binds to a receptor it produces a physical change in the shape of the protein which initiates a series of events that generate an effect

Question 29

direct-acting agonist

Answer 29

binds to and activates a receptor (produces an effect in absence of NT)

Question 30

indirect-acting agonist

Answer 30

enhances synthesis, release, and prevents degradation (effect dependent on presence of NT)

Question 31

inverse agonist

Answer 31

initiates an effect that is the opposite of the normal function

Question 32

Dose response curves

Answer 32

measures the magnitude of a drug’s effect as a function of the dose