Fun Stuff Flashcards
How does a PET scan work?
Glucose with a radioisotope of fluorine is injected into blood. PET scan illuminates the glucose present, typically brighter areas are determined to be cancerous.
What is a radical?
Atom w/ a single unpaired electron in its outer shell.
How can free radicals be introduced and how can they be protected against?
a) radiation or toxin ingestion b) vitamins C and E
How does a radical act to do damage in your body?
Radicals oxidize other molecules (steals their electron) Forming another radical. If this process continues, many cells will be affecte
How does lidocaine work? (a local anesthetic)
it functions to shut down Na+ channels in your neurons that would other wise send a signal to your brain
What causes Alzheimers?
degeneration of cholinergic neurons. More specifically, decreased ACh in certain areas of the brain and loss of post-synaptic neurons that would respond to it
What are symptoms of Alzheimers?
- Declining language and perceptual abilities
- confusion
- memory loss
How do depression medications?
they work by inhibiting MAO (this breaks down norepinphrine and dopamine)
when this is inhibited, norepinephrine and dopamine levels increase
How does caffeine work in the body?
- Over the course of a long day, adenosine increasingly binds to receptors in brain neurons. Caffeine binds just as adenosine does, but it instead increases cellular activity.
- Caffeine also prevents adenosine from dilating blood vessels (caffeine contricts) in the brain. So it is also used as headache relief in migraine patients
How does Alcohol affect a person?
ethanol stimulates GABA synapses and simultaneously inhibits glutamate receptors (50 of the excitatory neurons in the brain). The overall effect is global depression of the electrical activity of the brain.
Why is Hypertension bad?
Over time, your body adapts, making your left ventricle bigger (hypertrophy). In early cases, this helps your body pump, but over time the organization and properties of myocardial cells occur. This results in diminished contractile function and heart failure
How does salt intake make you more hypertensive?
what is salt? Na+ and Cl-.
- Cl- is normally only used in inhibitory pathways such as GABA receptors, so not too big of an issue, now we can stop things that need to be stopped better.
- Na+ is used in essentially all neural pathways in the body. Things digested that are needed end up in the blood*. With more Na+ at your bodies disposal, this leads to chronic overstimulation of sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic stimulation frequency is in charge of artery constriction, thus leading to a more constricted circulatory system. By the laws of physics, if the size of a tube is decreased, the pressure is increased. Therefore, your bodie’s BP is elevated.
How does kidney damage lead to renal hypertension?
increased renin release leads to excessive concentration of a vasoconstrictor (Angiotensin II) and decreased urine production.
- Angiotensin ii makes vessels smaller, increasing BP
- Excess urine pools in the extracellular fluid
What is the physiology behind cystic fibrosis (CF)?
- nor,ally we have kudu she glands that secrete muchs and allow h20 to be absorbed across the membrane of the nose
- in the case of CF, the cells in the is area lack a proper functioning cl- channel and therefore does not allow h20 to be absorbed readily….
Why
