Drugs and Behaviour Flashcards
What are the major classes of neurotransmitters?
Amino Acids, Achetylcholine, Monoamines and Peptides.
What are the two main amino acid neurotransmitters?
Glutamate and GABA
What are the three main monoamine neurotransmitters?
Noradrenalin, 5-HT (serotonin) and dopamine.
What is glutamate?
The main excitatory neurotransmitter. It plays a significant role in learning, plasticity and is actually toxic.
What is GABA?
The main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
What is dopamine linked to?
Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and substance abuse.
What is noradrenalin linked to?
Arousal and the ANS.
What is serotonin linked to?
Mood, feeling and pain.
What is the general job of the monoamines?
To regulate the activity of the amino acid neurotransmitters, glutamate and GABA.
What is pharmacokinetics?
Concerns the movement of drugs in the body.
What aspects of pharmacokinetics are there?
Route of administration
Absorption and distribution
Metabolism and biotransformation
Elimination
What routes of administration are there?
- Oral
- Rectal
- Injection
- Inhalation
- Transdermal
- Intra-ventricular
What are the positives and negatives of using oral administration of drugs?
+ Low risk of infection
+ Easy
- Slow
Evaluate the use of intravenous injections as a route of administration.
+ Very fast
+ Accurate
- Risk of infection
Evaluate the use of subcutaneous injections as a route of administration.
- Slow
- Can only inject small volumes at a time.
Where does metabolism and biotransformation of drugs occur?
In the liver.
What is the half life of a drug?
The time taken for plasma levels to fall to 50% of the maximum.
What does the blood brain barrier consist of?
- Astrocytes (type of glia), wrapped tightly around capillaries.
- Junction-less vessel walls.
What does a direct agonist do?
Mimics the effects of a specific neurotransmitter to cause the same or similar response in the postsynaptic neuron.
What does an indirect agonist do?
Enhances the action of a natural neurotransmitter.
What does an antagonist do?
Binds to a receptor and occupies the space so that the ‘real’ neurotransmitter cannot bind and cause an ion channel to open in the postsynaptic neuron.
