Chapter 6 Midterm 2 Flashcards
What is a drug?
A drug is a chemical that is administered to bring about some desired change (sometimes also undesired) in the body.
Chemicals are good or bad?
Neither, chemicals are what we’re made up of, drugs are a combination of chemicals
What are physcoactive drugs?
drugs that act to later mood, though, behavior, and are used to manage neuropsychological illness
What are abused substances?
Drugs that are taken for non-medical reasons
What did the company bear do?
Were the first to make aspirin a pill and patent it and branded it, invented taking drugs as a pill
What is the most efficient way of taking drugs?
Injecting it directly into the brain allows it to act quickly in low doses
Why is it a bad idea to inject drugs directly into the brain?
If the needles even a bit dirty you can get encephalitis and meningitis
What is the value of a drug dose directly to the brain?
1, this reduces every time you have the drug faces a barrier, so to get the same effect the drug needs to be 10x stronger if it passes one barrier
Why do pharmaceutical companies make very durable oral drugs?
Because they have to be durable in the near 0 ph of the stomach, enter blood stream, and then go where it needs to go
Why is inhalation an effective way to take drugs?
Because the layer between lungs & bloodstream is very thin
Why can cocaine users take spaghetti and wiggle it in there nose?
Because cocaine is an anesthetic, when you take it up your nose you anesthetize it which kills the septum bewteen your nose
Drugs that are weak acids pass from where?
Drugs that are weak acids pass from the stomach into the bloodstream
Drugs that are weak bases pass from where?
Pass from the intestines into the bloodstream
Drugs injected to muscles encounter more what?
Encounter more barriers than drugs inhaled
Where do drugs encounter the least barriers?
Drugs injected into the bloodstream, but they must be hydrophillic
Drugs in adhesive patches are absorbed through what?
Absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream
Capillaries in the brain form what?
They form tight junctions and are covered with astrocyte feet. These properties prevent materials from moving in an out easily.
Are capillaries in the body the same as the brain?
No they have few tight junctions, so materials can move in and out easily
What molecules can pass through the endothelial membrane?
CO2 and O2
What molecules are carried across the endothelial membrane by active transport?
Amino acids, glucose, and fats
What molecules are unable to pass out of the capillaries?
Large and electrically charged mlcls
What are three areas in the brain in which water soluble substances can get?
The pineal gland, the pituitary gland, and the area postrema
What does the pineal gland do?
entry of chemicals here affect day and night cycles
What does the pituitary gland do?
entry of chemicals here that influence pituitary hormones
What does the area postrema do?
Has entry of toxic substances that induce vomiting, good way to get toxins out of body, neurons in this area detect toxins which make you sick
What other ways to get toxins out?
Diarrhea, sweating, panting (gets toxins out of lungs)
When do you see diarreah etc when not poisoned?
When ur sick or have motion sickness
Why does motion sickness cause sickness symtpoms?
Because the info from you eye does not agree with info form inner ear so you act as if you’ve been poisoned
Why do you vomit when you drink too much?
cause alc is a posion, ur bodies tryna get toxins out
Do rats like alc? Are they a good study subject for effects of alc?
No, and also no because u have to force them
What are is a good animal to model effects of alc?
insectivores
Where are drugs broken down?
They’re broken down in the kidneys, liver and intestines
Where are drugs excreted?
Drugs are excreted in urine, feces, sweat, breast milk, and
exhaled air
Where can substances build up in the body?
They live in extra fat tissue
What does the liver conver?
The liver is capable of catabolizing many drugs into forms that
are more easily excreted from the body. The liver converts lipid
soluble chemicals to water soluble chemicals.
Why don’t you wanna eat too much tuna fish?
Tuna fish has mercury, is a toxin, can store in fat you fatty
Why can’t you lose too much fat quickly?
You can’t lose too much weight fast as it liberates all the toxins at once
Why can’t you take grapefruit juice with drugs?
It increases enzymes in liver which catabolize drugs fast
What enzyme family is involved in drug catabolism?
The cytochrome P450 enzyme Family
Why do people who weigh more need a higher dosage of drugs?
Cause a larger percentage of drug gets stored in fat
What are agonists?
Drugs that increase
the effectiveness of
neurotransmission
are agonists
What are antagonists?
Drugs that decrease
the effectiveness of
neurotransmission
are antagonists.
Can drugs be both antagonists and agonists?
Yes, at certain doses can be either or
What are the five ways drugs effect neurtransmitters?
Can effect it at it’s synthesis, when the neurotransmitter is being packaged and stored, during it’s release, during its receptor interaction, during it’s degradation and reuptake
At the actylcholine terminal, if you take a lot of choline what happens?
If you have a choline rich diet this increases acetyl choline being made, so the diet is as agonist
Is black widow spider venom an agonist?
Yes, it promotes the release of acetyl choline from its vesicle at the synapse
Is botox an agonist?
No blocks release of ach, so antagonist
How is botox an effective treatment?
Freezes muscles stops over excitation and stops skeleton from disforming, blocking pain and treating movement disorders. Also used to prevent wrinkles.
Is nicotine an agonist or antagonist?
Is an agonist
What is curare?
Is an antagonist used in darts to kill animals as the process of breathing is cholinergic system, stops is. We can eat it as curare doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier when injested orally.
Physostigmine and organophospates are what?
Kills humans, depends on dose, was used in world war two, is an agonist
What determines if somethings toxic or non toxic?
dosage
The thing most toxic to humans is?
ricin
Why does the same amnt of morphine cause physiological effect as you give to humans?
Cause rats chew up morphine real fast
What is tolerance?
Need more higher doses of drugs to feel the same you did at the first time
What are the three types of tolerance?
Metabolic tolerance, cellular tolerance, and learned tolerance
What is metabolic tolerance?
Increase in number of enzymes in the
liver, blood, or brain used to break
down a substance
What is cellular tolerance?
activities of brain cells adjust to
minimize effects of the substance
What is learned tolerance?
People learn to cope with being
intoxicated.
ex: alchololic sitting in chair
What experiment happened showing tolerance?
Bunch of ppl were fed alchohol regularly, average blood achohol went down and average degree of intoxication went down
What is sensitization?
Is when an occasional drug taker, has an increased responsiveness to successive equal doses, sensitization develops in periodic users
Is sensitization related to where you are?
Yes, drugs have changes in effect depending on where you take it, home or at the club as their heart rate effects their tolerance or sensitization
Why do heroin addicts often die?
Cause they took it at a diff time and place they normally do, increases sensitization
What study did Robinson and Becker do?
Rats were given amphetamine, they rear more later in experiment after periodic use of the drug
How does amphetamine react?
enhances release of dopamine, and also blocks the reuptake transporter- so it doesn’t get broken down as fast- both ways are agonists
How is sensitization relevent in treating mental disorders?
Many drug therapies, including those for the psychiatric disorder
schizophrenia, must be taken for several weeks before they produce
beneficial effects. Possibly sensitization underlies the development of
these beneficial effects.
How is sensitization related to drug dependence?
Before a person becomes
dependent on or addicted to a drug, he or she must be sensitized by
numerous experiences with the drug away from the home
environment. this is why in lab you move rats from their original environment
How do life experiences effect chances of addiction?
Life experiences, especially stressful ones, can produce effects
resembling sensitization that prime the nervous system for addiction.
How does drug use change your brain peranently?
neurons increase in dendritic growth and spine density, is permanent change in dendrites induced by repeated exposure
What is zoopharmacognosy?
Behavior in which nonhuman animals self-medicate
How are physcoactive drugs grouped?
based on the primary
neurotransmitter system that they are known to affect. each drug has a primary and then at least a secondary effect.
How far back can you trace use of cannabis?
1000’s yrs ago
How far back can you trace alchhol?
10,000 yrs ago, get grains ground them and fermented them and drank it
What drug is used the most?
alcholol
What does it mean when drugs are dirty?
interacts with receptors its not intended to.
Why did prohibiton in the US fail?
Canada sent it over
What is the most widely consumed pyschoactive drug?
Caffeine (adenosinergic antagonist), can produce a mild form of drug dependence
How does caffeine work?
Increases metabolism of cells by inhibting an enzyme that breaks down cyclic adenosine monophosphate, increase in this leads to increase in glucose, makes cells have more energy
How was caffeine discovered?
Shepard’s w goats noticed goats got peppier after eating coffee beans
What is happening to costa rican rainforests?
Getting rehabilitated cause they were destroyed for producing coffee
What the number one symptom when ppl get off caffein?
They get headaches
Why do people get headaches after getting off caffeine?
Is due to nerve fibers responding to rapid changes in the size of arteries, diff from migraines
What’s a thrombic stroke?
Is clot in blood vessel
What’s a hemoragic stroke?
rare
Whats a migranous stroke?
In which blood vessels contract so severely that it cuts off enough blood supply to cause a stroke
Where is nicotine found?
In the leaves of the tobacco plant
What is nicotine at low doses?
is a stimulant- gets you pumped
Nictone is what for plants?
protection, is an anti insect strategy
At high doses what is nicotine?
it dampens neuronal activity
What does nicotine stimulate? What does this indirectly cause the release of?
acetylcholine nicotinic receptors (agonist), which then indirectly
causes the release of acetylcholine and several other neurotransmitters, including
norepinephrine, epinephrine, arginine vasopressin, serotonin, endorphins, and
dopamine
Nicotine activates dopamine so it activates the what signal?
The do it again signal
Why is nic used to treat alzheimers?
cause alzheimers disease is is due to loss of chologernic neurons, used to treat the symptoms
What is atropine?
cholinergic antagonist that is recreationally used
Is nicotine a potentially lehtal poison?
Yes
What does nicotine dependance involve?
involves both psychological and physical aspects
What is medical problem in smoking tobacco?
All the other chemicals, like tar etc, not nicotine
Why are canadians not dying rom vapes?
because vaping industry in canada is regulated, so the dissolvant is pure.
What’s the correlation between ppl with schizoprinia and smoking?
ppl wih ppl with disorder and sing cigarettes is 100%
How was belladonna used by women in italy?
Squirted in eyes so pupil dialiates, women want big pupils to make men think they’re attracted to them so men will find them attractive
At diff doses what do GABAergic antagonists do?
reduce anxiety and disinhibit; at
medium doses, they sedate and put people to sleep; at high doses, they
anesthetize, induce coma and can kill.
What drug is often used to kill urself?
Valium
At low doses what do Gabaergic drugs do? At high doses? At medium doses?
At low doses, GABAergic agonists reduce anxiety and disinhibit; at
medium doses, they sedate and put people to sleep; at high doses, they
anesthetize, induce coma and can kill.
Why should you not take Gabas and alcohol at the same time?
Because alcohol can bind at a site on the receptor and gaba agonists can bind to the same receptor on a different site (for ex benzodiazepine) cause the channel to open and let chlorine through as it will kill you
What do benzodiazepenes include? What are they prescribed for?
They include diazepam (valium), alprazolam (Xanax) and clonazepam (Klonopin) are prescribed to reduce anxiety. Repeated doses result in increased tolerance
Long term and frequent consumption of alcohol can lead to what?
Increased risk of alcoholism.
– Alcoholism results in damage to the central and peripheral
nervous systems, as well as nearly every other system and
organ in the body.
What amount of alcohol is safe while pregant?
None
What features are common in Fetal alcohol syndrome?
Short palpebral fissures, short nose, flat midface, indistinct philtrum, thin upper lip
Low nasal bridge,
ear anomalies, epicanthal folds, small jaw
What is the number one excitatory system in the brain?
The glutamatergic system
What is the receptors in the glutamatergic system?
NMDA, AMPA, and Kainate
What are agonists for the NMDA receptor? What do they do?
Phencyclidine (PCP or angel dust)
Ketamine
Can produce hallucinations and out-of-body experiences
What are dissociative anesthetics?
compounds that produce feelings of detachment—
dissociation—from the environment and self because they distort
perceptions of sight and sound
Are PCP and Ketamine dissociative anesthetics?
Yes
What is Ketamine medically prescribed for?
starting and
maintaining anesthesia
Why was Ketamines usage stopped an anesthesia for surgeries?
Because people were still awake and could describe what happened to them, used it on children bcuz they couldn’t complain, now just use it on horses
What is a use of ketamine in terms of depression?
Used as an antidepressant, at low dosages can help ppl w severe depression
What is Mematine (Namenda)?
is an NMDA antagonist that is prescribed
in treatment of Alzheimer disease to prevent neuronal loss
How is mematine hypothesized to prevent neuronal loss?
Theory is too much calcium causes neurons to be hypertonic and explode and die, mematine blocks nmda channels which stops calcium as it comes through there
What are some dopamine agonists that are used recreationally?
Cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine
What are some dopamine agonists that are medically prescribed?
Dextroamphetamine (Adderall), methylphenidate
(Ritalin), for Attention Deficit Disorder
– L-dopa for Parkinson disease
What are some dopaminergic antagonists used for schizophrenia and psychosis?
Dopamine antagonists that are medically prescribed for
schizophrenia and drug-induced psychosis
–Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), haloperidol (Haldol),
clozapine (Clozaril), aripiprazole (Abilify, Aripiprex)
What is amphetamine and how dies it work?
Is a dopaminergic agonist that allows dopamine to interact with polysnyaptic D2 receptors, it prevent the reuptake of dopamine by reversing the direction of the transporter that packages dopamine into vesicles and releases it into the synaptic terminal. The transporter in the synaptic terminal pumps the packages dopamine into the synaptic cleft this then goes onto stimulate dopamine receptors
How does cocaine act as a dopaminergic agonist?
It blocks the dopamine reuptake transporter
How was amphetamine discovered?
Was discovered during attempts to synthesize the CNS transmitter epinephrine
How was amphetamine used in WW2?
Dopamine antagonists that are medically prescribed for
schizophrenia and drug-induced psychosis
–Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), haloperidol (Haldol),
clozapine (Clozaril), aripiprazole (Abilify, Aripiprex)
What’s a popular use of amphetamine today?
used as a popular weight-loss aid.
What is the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia?
holds that some forms of this disease may be related to excessive dopamine activity — especially in the frontal lobes. If excessive dopamine is a consequence of drug-induced psychosis and some forms of naturally occurring schizophrenia, then dopamine antagonists should help symptomolgy
Do dopamine agonists help schizophrenia? Name an example
In fact, the use of dopamine antagonist drugs that preferentially bind to D2
receptors has improved the functioning of people with schizophrenia. Have been used since mid 1950s, beginning with FGAs (which block dopamine D2 receptors)
What are unwanted side effects produces by long terms use of dopamergic D2 agonists?
ardive dyskinesia (TD). TD is a movement disorder that results in involuntary, repetitive body movements such as grimacing, sticking out the tongue, or smacking the lips, as well as rapid jerking movements or slow writhing movements.
What is type of dopamine agonist is used to restore movement in people with parkinsons?
l-dopa
How does the agonist Chlorpromazine block dopamine?
Occupies the dopamine site on the D2 receptor, prevent receptor activation
What are Serotonergic agonists known for?
known for altering perceptions of one’s surroundings, feelings, sensations, and images (visual hallucinations), producing what are known as “trips.
What serotonergic agonists are found in plant tissue?
mescaline (peyote; 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine), DMT (N, N-dimethyltryptamine), and psilocybin, are found in plants and mushrooms.
What are synthetically recreationally used serotonergics?
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and MDMA (Ecstasy, XTC; 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine)
What are some exceptions to most serotonergics being illegal?
Mescaline, obtained from the peyote cactus, is legal in the United States for use by Native Americans for spiritual practices.
How do anti-depressant medications work?
MAO inhibitors- provide more serotonin release with each action potential by inhibiting monoamine oxidase- an enzyme that breaks down serotonin in the axon terminal
SSRIs and Trycyclics- Blocks the reuptake transporter that takes serotonin back into the axon terminal, because it’s blocked serotonin remains in the in the synaptic cleft for longer
What does prozac do?
increases the production of new neurons in the hippocampus, a limbic structure in the temporal lobes. As detailed in Section 5-4, the hippocampus is vulnerable to stress-induced damage, and its restoration by fluoxetine is proposed to underlie one of the drug’s antidepressant effects
What is an opiod?
any endogenous or exogenous compound that binds to opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects, they have narcotic and analgesic properties
What are the three source sod opioids, give examples for each source?
Isolated (morphine, codeine)
Altered (heroin, oxycodone)
Synthetic (Fentanyl, methadone)
What are the five classes of opioid peptides?
dynorphins, enkephalins, endorphins, endomorphins, and nociceptin
What are the four receptors to which each opioid peptide binds?
delta, kappa, mu, and nociceptin receptors
Where does morphine bind? What does it do?
Binds to mu receptors, alters the perception of pain.
What does codeine do?
ingredient in prescription cough medicine and pain relievers
What is heroin? What does it do?
altered from morphine. More potent and more fat-soluble than morphine, it also penetrates the blood–brain barrier more quickly, allowing it to produce very rapid but shorter-acting psychoactive affects.
What is fentayl?
Is opiodergic, is up to 100 times more potent than morphine, which contributes to the frequency with which it produces overdose-related deaths.
Why is an opiod user at constant risk of overdosing?
Because opiod use results in both tolerance and sensitization
What is Naloxone?
An opiod antagonist, a competitive inhibitor: it competes with opioids for neuronal receptors. Because they can enter the brain quickly, competitive inhibitors rapidly block the actions of opioids; thus, they are essential aids in treating opioid overdoses
What is THC?
one of 84 cannabinoids and the main psychoactive constituent in cannabis
How does THC alter mood?
THC alters mood primarily by interacting with the cannabidiol 1 (CB1) receptor found on neurons; it also binds with the CB2 receptors found on glial cells and in other body tissues.
Has anyone ever died from a cannabis overdose?
No, is low toxicity
Is THC and CBD helpful for disorders?
Yes acts as therapeutic agents
What is the defn of substance abuse?
A pattern of drug use in which people rely on a drug chronically
and excessively, allowing it to occupy a central place in their life
Whats the defn of addiction?
A complex brain disorder characterized by escalation, compulsive
drug taking, and relapse; called substance use disorder
Whats a withdrawal symptom?
Physical and psychological behavior displayed by a person when
drug use ends
What is PSychomotor activation?
Increased behavioral and cognitive activity so that at certain levels
of consumption, the drug user feels energetic and in control
What is the dependance hypothesis of drug abuse?
You get bad feelings off drug, take drug to wear off effects
What are the strengths and short comings of the dependance hypothesis of drug abuse?
it explains drug taking, but abistence can end after the withdrawal symptoms and some drugs have them but arent abused, flaw in theory
Are you addicted to caffeine or dependant?
dependant
Whats the wanting and liking theory?
Wanting is cravings and liking is pleasure
Often things co occur, but are produced by diff parts of the brain
So wanting increases with repeated drug use, so the the mesolimbic dopamine system (this pathway is the do it again pathway) Designed by us to have us do good things again
Tolerance develops with repeated drug use- liking goes down, pleasure decreases opiod neurons (in the VTA to accumbens)
Where is the desicion to take a drug made?
In the frontal and pre-frontal cortex
The repeated reason to take the drug is where in the brain?
The vta to the nucleus accumbens
Drug activates which system related to pleasurable experiences?
Opiod systems (liking)
Wanting drugs springs from what?
activity in the dopaminergic
system.
Drug habits are coded where in the brain?
The striatum
What are ACE’s?
verse childhood
experiences (ACEs), are associated with an increased
risk of drug initiation and drug addiction
WHo’s more sensitive to drugs, women or men?
Women are twice as sensitive to drugs as men, on
average, women mor elikely to abuse drugs
Whos more likely to try rugs on average?
Men
What are three factors that contribute to not getting addicted to drugs?
Not genetics, personality traits of unsual risk taking, epigeneitcs (accounts for tendecy of drug addiction to be inherited)
Why is treating drug abuse difficult?
Treating drug abuse is difficult in part because legal proscriptions
are irrational and how to treat the drug abuse varies on the type of drug
Why do people with parkinsons when treated start gambing?
Parkinsons is deficit of dopamine, when theyre on dopanergic agonists they start gambling due to dopamine.
What drugs cause brain damage?
Glutamate like drugs because they act on glutamate receptors, activation of receptors results in infux of calcium into cells with leads to programmed cell death (apoptosis)
What are the two ways cells can die?
Lose cells as you grow older, the cells are programmed to die
other way they die in injury
How does alcohol use cause damage to thalamus and emotional system?
Second hand, interferes with thimain absorption in intestine, give thiamine to patients to stop further damage.
How does MDMA cause damage to brain?
Doses of MDMA approximating those taken by human users result in the
degeneration of very fine serotonergic nerve terminals
How does cocaine cause damage to the brain?
Cocaine use is related to the blockage of cerebral blood flow and other changes in
blood circulation
How can we test drug effects on people w out acc testing on them?
Test on their tissues- form of specialized medicine
