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Biochemistry > Fundamentals of Pharmacology > Flashcards

Fundamentals of Pharmacology Flashcards

1
Q

What is pharmacology

A

Science of drugs

Mechanism of action

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2
Q

What is therapeutics

A

Medicinal use of drugs

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3
Q

What is pharmacy

A

preparation and dispensing of drugs

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4
Q

What is toxicology

A

harmful effects of drugs

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5
Q

what is a drug

A

chemical substance of know structure, not a nutrient, which when administered to a living organism produces a biological response

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6
Q

How many names do drugs have and what are they grouped by

A

3 names - chemical, common, trade

therapeutic use (analgesia) and mechanism

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7
Q

What 4 things can drugs bind to and what are these drugs called

A

Enzymes, ion channels, carrier molecules, receptors (for neurotr and horm)

ligands

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8
Q

what is meant by a drug being an agonist or an antagonist

A

agonist - activates receptor and produces a response

antagonist - prevents receptor from being activated

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9
Q

What is the mechanism of drug action

A

drugs are exogenous molecules which mimic or block the action of endogenous molecules

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10
Q

what is meant by selectivity and specificity

A

for a drug to be useful therapeutically it needs to be very SELECTIVE in its action, however will produce side effects.

solution - design a drug with a high SPECIFICITY to a the target cell

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11
Q

what is meant by pharmacodynamics

A

what a drug does to the body

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12
Q

what is meant by pharmacokinetics

A

what the body does to a drug

ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion)

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13
Q

what is meant by absorption and what is it affected by

A

determines how much and how quickly a drug can enter the body.

molecular size, lipid solubility, route of adminis, properties of patient e.g size

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14
Q

what is meant by distribution and what is it affected by

A

determines whether the drugs effects are local or systematic (travels throughout whole body)

  • patients circulation
  • does the drug bind to proteins in the blood
  • does the drug have access to the organ it will act on
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15
Q

what is meant by metabolism and excretion

A

determines how long the drugs effects last. drugs are metabolised into metabolites in the liver and excreted by the kidneys.

is the liver healthy, are the liver enzymes effective

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16
Q

what is meant by the half life of a drug + clearance

A

Affected by met and exc, the time it takes for the drug conc in the blood to half.

volume of blood cleared of the drug per unit time

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17
Q

what is the shape of a drug conc-response curve and log drug conc-response curve

A

drug conc-response - rectangular hyperbola

log drug conc-response - symmetrical sigmoid

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18
Q

what are the 3 types of pharmacological experiment

A

in vitro
in vivo
ex vivo

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19
Q

describe how in vitro works

A

drug effects are studied on a piece of tissue taken from an animal/human and kept alive outside the body

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20
Q

describe how in vivo works

A

drug effects studied in the living animal/human. eg clinical trials

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21
Q

describe how ex vivo works

A

tissue removed from an animal/human who was treated with the drug

22
Q

what is milli, micro and nano

A

10-3
10-6
10-9

23
Q

what are the units of in vitro drug conc

A

Molar (moles per litre)
1 Molar solution=1 mole of drug dissolved in 1 litre of solution
eg. 45mM=4.5x10-2

24
Q

what are the units of in vivo drug conc

A

we cant use molar conc as we dont know the volume of solvent eg blood, so we use mg per kg

25
Q

what is Emax

A

the maximum response a drug can produce

26
Q

what is EC50

A

the conc of the drug which produces 50% of the maximum response

27
Q

what is meant by potency

A

describes the conc at which the drug is effective (produces an effective response)
a potent drug is one which is effective in small conc

28
Q

how do we quantify potency

A

using EC50

29
Q

What is the potency ratio (M) and what do we use it to compare

A

compares the EC50s of 2 drugs.

often we compare a new drug (test) and an already available drug (standard)

30
Q

How do we calculate the potency ratio (M)

A

M = EC50 (test) / EC50 (standard)
OR
logM = log EC50 (test ) - log EC50 (standard)

31
Q

if the value of M is less than 1 what does that mean

A

M is less than 1 means that the EC50 of the test drug is lower so is potent

32
Q

what is meant by the therapeutic index

A

Ratio between the toxic dose of a drug and the dose producing the desired therapeutic effect

33
Q

if there is a higher therapeutic index, what does this mean

A

lower chance of the drug producing toxic side effects

34
Q

what are the 2 therapeutic index formulas

A

LD50/ED50 (lethal dose in 50% of the population)

TD50/ED50 (toxic)

35
Q

why is LD50/ED50 not used anymore

A

death is an extreme side effect

unethical to obtain LD50 values from animals

36
Q

Problems with TD50/ED50 (used for humans)

A

Drug effects are different for every person

drug can have different ED50 values depending on the condition being treated

37
Q

what do receptors do

A

recognise extracellular molecules

transducers - having detected the extracellular molecules they can then bring about changes in the cell

38
Q

what is meant by specificity

A

only one or a few drugs can bind to a receptor

39
Q

what is meant by affinity

A

ability of a drug to bind to a receptor

40
Q

how can we quantify affinity

A

using Kd - [drug] required to occupy 50% of receptors at equilibrium.
high affinity = low Kd

41
Q

what is meant by efficacy

A

ability of a drug to activate a receptor

42
Q

what are the two types of agonist and explain them

A

full agonist - has affinity and HIGH efficacy

partial agonist - has affinity and LOW efficacy so less effective

43
Q

explain the graph for full and partial agonists for p (receptors) against response

A

full - produces max response while only activating a small number of receptors
partial - fails to produce max response despite occupying all the receptors

44
Q

what are antagonists

A

prevent receptor from being activated

act as inhibitors, inhibiting the effects of neuro, hormones etc.

45
Q

what are the 5 types of antagonists

A 
competitive
non competitive
chemical
pharmacodynamic
physiological
46
Q

what is a comp antagonist

A

competes with the agonist for the same receptor but doesn’t activate it (has zero efficacy) R or IR

47
Q

what is a non comp antagonist

A

acts at a diff site on the receptor, causing a conform change. R or IR

48
Q

what is a chemical antagonist

A

uses one drug to chemically inactivate another

49
Q

what is a pharmacokinetic antagonist

A

one drug alters the way the body deals with another

50
Q

what is a physiological antagonist

A

two drugs act to produce opposing effects, cancelling each other out

51
Q

describe the graph for rev and irrev comp antagonist

log

A

symmetrical sigmoid
rev - moves to the right still parallel, effects can be overcome by increasing [agonist]
irrev - curve gets lower and doesn’t reach the same response, inhibition cant be overcome by an inc in [agonist], blockade is not surmountable

Biochemistry (2 decks)

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