Drugs & the Brain Flashcards
How do we Find Drugs to Treat Brain Disease?
- Start with natural product and isolate the psychoactive chemical
- Find the receptor(s) for that chemical
- Change the chemical structure to improve the drug to work for an indented purpose
Pharmacokinetics
- how the body reacts with administered substances for the entire duration of exposure
(the amount of time it takes for a drug to get to your brain can determine how long it take for a drug to take effect)
Agonist
is a shape that will trigger the receptor to send a signal to the cell (the drug has effect)
Antagonist
it is a shape that will bind to the receptor but will not trigger the receptor to send a signal to the cell
Neurons= Salty Bananas b/c
Na+ are outside, while the K - are inside
Excitatory neurotransmitters:
Glutamate & acetylcholine
Inhibitory neurotransmitters:
GABA & glycine
Ions with a positive charge (excitatory)
- Na Sodium
- Ca Calcium
- K Potassium
Ions with a negative charge (inhibitory)
- Cl Chloride
- F Fluoride
CEREBRAL CORTEX
is required for higher
thought and reasoning,
consciousness
Two major divisions of the nervous system
CNS- brain and spinal cord
PNS- nerves- connect to spinal cord or brain
Somatic nervous system
sensory neurons and motor neurons- sensing environment, controlling voluntary movements and reflexes
Autonomic nervous system
“self-governing” controls the body’s physiology along the endocrine system. The sympathetic ANS mobilizes the body for action
Basal Ganglia
initiating voluntary movement
Thalamus
information filter
Hypothalamus
endocrine system, hormone regulation
Amygdala
‘negative’ emotion
Hippocampus
memory formation
Serotonin is associated with…
Raphe nucleus
Dopamine is associated with…
Substantia nigra & ventral tegmentum
Norepinephrine is associated with…
Locus coeruleus
Endorphins are associated with…
Periaqueductal grey
Sleep is associated with…
Reticular Formation
Heart rate is associated with…
Medulla Oblongata
Serotonin is the agonist of…
every serotonin receptor
Every neuron will have…
GABA (quiet) receptors & glutamate (excite)
cerebellum
coordinate and refine movements
Addiction
a compulsion to do something despite adverse consequences
Dependence
the body (as adjusted its physiology) is performing best when the drug is present (where there is dependence, there will be withdrawal)
Clean drug
has only one receptor
Dirty drug
has multiple receptors thus causes other effects
Why is pill form usually optimal?
Liver eliminates poisons
Blood Brain Barrier
Drugs must be a little bit fat soluble and a little charged
Midbrain
cluster of cells that make the neurotransmitters that regulate pleasure, pain, attention, sleep, wakefulness and sexual arousal
Parietal Lobe
touch sensation (Somatosensory) and taste (gustatory)
Temporal lobe
hearing (audition)
Smell (olfaction)
Myelinated axons carry…
the electrical signal more rapidly than unmyelinated axons
The reticular activating system is located in
the pons (part of the brain that controls wakefulness)
The upstream neuron (releases)
presynaptic
The downstream neuron
postsynaptic
Synaptic vesicles
neurotransmitters that are synthesised by the upstream neurons and packed into spheres
If a neuron is hyperpolarized by an inhibitory neurotransmitter…
it is less likely to fire
Action potential sequence
- an excitatory neurotransmitter lands on
dendrite - Neuron is depolarized
- Depolarization spreads along cell body to axon
hillock - at the axon hillock, the neuron generates an action potential
- The action potential triggers calcium channels to open
- Calcium enters the axon terminal and causes the release of neurotransmitters
