Intro to pharmacology Flashcards
Pharmacology
Science of drug action
Drug
Anything w/ positive or desired effect
Substance used in diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease or as a component of a medication
Poison
Anything w/ negative or undesired effect
Legal status of drugs
POM
PM
GSL
POM
Prescription only medication
PM
Pharmacy medication
GSL
General sales medication
Branches of pharmacology
Pharmacokinetics
Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacokinetics
How the body affects the drug
Pharmacodynamics
How the drug affects the body
Drugs can be …
Agonist
Antagonist
Agonist
Activate receptors and elicit a response e.g. drugs, hormones, neurotransmitters bitter, signalling molecules
Antagonist
Prevent (block) effect of agonist; can be competitive or non-competitive
Examples of agonist/antagonist interactions
Morphine is released at a synapse (agonist) and naloxone fits into the dips on the other neurone (antagonist) blocking the morphine
Receptors
Proteins located on cell membranes, respond to endogenous compounds (hormones)
Transport systems
Ion channels, either voltage gated (Ca2+, K+, Na+) or ligand gated
G coupled proteins
Located in cell membranes and bounds extracellular substances to an intracellular molecule
Affinity
How well does the drug bind to receptor
What does drug affinity depend on
Conc of drug [D]
What does removal of a drug depend on
How well it bound in 1st place
Receptor binding
How many receptors are occupied
How is rship between drug conc and receptor binding calculated
p = [D]/ [D] + Kd
Dose
How much drug is needed for therapeutic response
What should drug + receptor =
Chemical response but this depends on efficacy
Efficacy
2 drugs Same concept Same receptor binding ability (affinity) Different efficacy Diff chemical effects
Examples of drugs w/ diff efficacy
Benzodiazepines, lorazepam and temazepam have a 10-fold diff in dose
Key point about efficacy and dosage
Not all drugs in the same class and receptor site will have similar doses As a result, medication ha sits own currency
Stages of pharmacokinetics
Absorption
Distribution
Metabolism (after body realises drug is exogenous)
Excretion
Absorption in pharmacokinetics
Getting drug into body - so it can work
Everything given via mouth will go through dissolution phase
Pass through gut wall into bloodstream —> even distribution around the body