Introduction to Pharmacology

Question 1

study of substances that
interact with living systems through chemical processes; interactions usually occur by binding of the substance to regula-
tory molecules and activating or inhibiting normal body processes.

Answer 1

Pharmacology

Question 2

the science of substances used to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease.

Answer 2

Medical Pharmacology

Question 3

the branch of pharmacology that deals with the undesirable effects of chemicals on living systems, from individual cells to humans to complex ecosystems

Answer 3

Toxicology

Question 4

deals with the absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs (ADME).

Answer 4

Pharmacokinetics

Question 5

concerns the actions of the chemical on the organism.

Answer 5

Pharmacodynamics

Question 6

the science of drug preparation and the medical uses of drugs

Answer 6

Materia medica

Question 7

they develop the methods of experimental physiology and pharmacology.

Answer 7

François Magendie & Claude Bernard

Question 8

cell surface or in the cytoplasm with which drug molecule interacts to trigger a response or effect.

Answer 8

Drug receptor

Question 9

the study of the genetic variations that cause differences in drug response among individuals or populations.

Answer 9

Pharmacogenomcs/Pharmacogenetics

Question 10

father of Toxicology - ‘all drugs are poison’

Answer 10

Theophrastus von Hohenheim/ Paracelsus

Question 11

General principles that the student should remember:

Answer 11

> all substances can under certain circumstances be toxic
the chemicals in botanicals (nutraceuticals) are no different from chemicals in manufactured drugs except for a much greater proportion of impurities in botanicals
all dietary supplements and therapies promoted as health-enhancing should meet the same standards of efficacy and safety as conventional drugs and medical therapies.

Question 12

activator

Answer 12

Agonist

Question 13

inhibitor

Answer 13

Antagonist

Question 14

target molecule

Answer 14

Receptor

Question 15

may interact directly with other drugs

Answer 15

Chemical antagonists

Question 16

interact almost exclusively with water molecules

Answer 16

Osmotic agents

Question 17

may be defined as any sub-

stance that brings about a change in biologic function through its chemical actions.

Answer 17

drug

Question 18

drugs that have almost exclusively harmful effects.

Answer 18

Poisons

Question 19

usually defined as poisons of biologic origin, ie, synthesized by plants or animals, in contrast to inorganic poisons
such as lead and arsenic.

Answer 19

Toxins

Question 20

three major types of bonds in drugs:

Answer 20

covalent, electrostatic, and

hydrophobic

Question 21

are very strong bond and in many cases not reversible under biologic conditions.

Answer 21

Covalent bonds

Question 22

even in the absence of any agonist, some of the receptor pool may produce the same physiologic effect
as agonist-induced activity.

Answer 22

constitutive activity

Question 23

drugs that when administered at concentrations sufficient to saturate the receptor pool, can activate their receptor-
effector systems to the maximum extent and cause a shift of almost all of the receptor pool to the Ra–D pool

Answer 23

full agonists

Question 24

bind to the same receptors and acti-
vate them in the same way but do not evoke as great a response, no matter how high the concentration. Such drugs are said to have low intrinsic efficacy.

Answer 24

partial agonists

Question 25

conventional antagonist action can be
explained as fixing the fractions of drug-bound Ri and Ra in the same relative amounts as in the absence of any drug; no change in activity will be observed, without effect. However, the presence of the antagonist at the receptor site will block access of agonists to the receptor and prevent the usual agonist effect.

Answer 25

neutral antagonism

Question 26

drug has a much stronger affinity for the Ri than for the Ra state and stabilizes a large fraction in the Ri –D pool; reduce constitutive activity, opposite of the effects produced by conventional agonists at that receptor.

Answer 26

inverse agonists

Question 27

endogenous molecule can be called an ____. Such binding is not completely without significance because it affects the distribution of drug within the body and determines the amount of free drug in the circulation.

Answer 27

inert binding site

Question 28

inactive precursor chemical that is readily absorbed and distributed must be administered and then converted to the active drug by biologic processes inside the body.

Answer 28

prodrug

Question 29

they activate the receptor to signal as a direct result of binding to it.

Answer 29

agonists

Question 30

they bind to receptors but do not activate generation of a signal; consequently, they interfere with the ability of an agonist to activate the receptor.

Answer 30

antagonists

Question 31

drugs bind to a different site on the receptor than that bound by endogenous ligands; such drugs can produce useful and quite different clinical effects

Answer 31

allosteric modulators

Question 32

so-called because their natural ligands are presently unknown; these may prove to be useful targets for future drug development.

Answer 32

orphan receptors