concepts and calculations Flashcards
What is Pharmacology?
the study of the effect of drugs on the function of living systems
What is Pharmacodynamics?
effects of the drug on the body
What is the mechanism of action of paracetamol dependent on?
inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis
What is pharmacokinetics?
effects of the body on the drug
relates to absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME)
What is the difference between a drug and a medicine?
Drugs are taken to produce a change in the body but medicines are taken for therapeutic effect and usually contain other substances to make them easier to use
What is a drug?
biologically active compound (other than a nutrient or dietary ingredient) taken with intent to produce a change in the body
What is a medicine?
A medical preparation which usually contains one or more drugs administered with the purpose of producing a therapeutic effect.
Medicines usually contain other substances to make them more convenient to use.
What is an excipient?
a substance formulated alongside the active ingredient of a medication
usually to make the medicine easier to use
What did Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) pioneer?
treatment of syphillis
Interested in staining cellular components
It took him three years’ and three hundred syntheses to produce ‘salvarsan’
What is Ehrlichs magic bullet theory?
a drug would have selectively toxicity e.g. against a microbial agent or cancer cell.
Ideally with little action on the host cell even at high doses = therapy without toxicity.
Is nicotine and agonist or an antagonist?
agonist
stimulant
Why can you not classify drugs easily?
the need of chemists, pharmacologists, doctors differ
What is a problem with nomenclature and drugs?
it is not always practical to present each drug under a single name as formulations vary widely
Any drug therefore may have names in 3 different classes
What do 73% of drugs target?
Humans mostly proteins
What do 16% of drugs target?
microbial or viral
What do 11% of drugs target?
miscellaneous
How many drugs were FDA approved in 2020?
Higher or lower than 2020?
53
Higher
What are the conventional routes of identifying drug targets?
Analysis of pathophysiology
Analysis of mechanism of action of existing therapeutic drugs.
What are novel routes of identifying drug targets?
trawl the genome
What did Hitchings and Elion (1944) do?
unravelling of the synthesis of DNA
pioneered to help understand mechanisms of disease
How many genes in the human genome are disease modifiying?
3000
How many genes in the human genome are druggable?
3000
Approximately how many genes can be used for targets in pharmacy? (ie. disease modifying and druggable)
600-1500
Mass = conc x vol x formula weight
Mass = g
conc = mol/L
vol = L
formula weight = g/mol
What is molarity?
How much of the substance is available in a given volume.
What is a Mole?
The mole is the unit that defines the amount of a given substance.
What is avogadros constant?
One mole contains 6 x1023 molecules of a substance.
What is a biological assay?
A method of measuring the effects of a biologically active substance using an intermediate in vivo or in vitro tissue or cell model under controlled conditions.
What is a logarithm?
A logarithm is defined as the power to which a base (10) must be raised to produce a given number (e.g. Log 100 = 2)
Log 10 molar = 1
Log 1 millimolar = -3 (1x10^-3)
Log 1 micromolar = -6 (1x10^-6)
Log 1 nanomolar = -9 (1x10^-9)
What is on the y axis of the Concentration response curve?
Normalised Response
What is on the x axis of the concentraion response curve?
Log [Compound] (M)
Why is this a good title for a concentration response curve?
Concentration-response relationship for histamine on smooth muscle contraction in the polar bear
Histamine = what you’re testing
Smooth muscle contraction = effect the response relates to
Polar bear = species tested on
What is the therapeutic range for drugs?
6μM to 9nm
What are the two implausible principles of homeopathy?
like causes like
the greater the dilution, the more potent the medicine?
