Introduction to Pharmacology Practice Questions Flashcards
A) Silastic implant
B) Diphenhydramine
C) Calcium phosphate
D) DNA
E) Insulin pump
F) Fexofenadine
G) Cetirizine
H) Loratadine
I) Oral contraceptive
J) Condom
K) Measles vaccine
L) Advil
For questions 1-2, select all correct answers. Each answer choice can be used once, more than once or not at all.
1) Which of the items is a drug or might be used as a drug?
2) Which of the items are generic drug names for second generation H1 antagonists?
A, E: Silastic and insulin pumps are used as drug delivery systems, but are not drugs
B, F, G, H: antihistamine drugs
C, D: Calcium phosphate and DNA are chemical compounds that could be used as drugs
J: Condoms are a barrier method of contraception, but are not drugs
K: vaccines are macromolecular compounds administered to achieve the clinical outcome of immunity and are thus considered drugs
L: Advil is a trade name for ibuprofen (as noted in the lecture, neither of these drugs is on your drug list yet, but are used in this lecture to illustrate the difference between a generic drug name and a trade name for the same drug
1) B, C, D, F, G, H, I, K, L,
2) F, G, H
Explain the difference between “topical” drug administration and “transdermal” drug administration.
Topical drug administration refers to putting the drug on the skin (or other external surface, e.g. the eye) with the intent that most of the active drug will remain at the site of application.
Transdermal administration refers to using the skin as an absorptive site to transport the drug into the general circulation. Transdermal drug administration is considered a route for systemic drug administration.
T or F: The bioavailability for a given drug will be the same for all routes of administration
False. Bioavailability refers to the fraction of administered drug that reaches the general circulation in active form. For any given drug, this value will be unique for each route of administration; the intravenous bioavailability of all drugs is 100%. The oral bioavailability for some orally administered drugs is less than 10%.
Drugs with which of the following characteristics are likely to have the greatest apparent volume of distribution at steady-state?
A) Lipophilic
B) Highly ionized
C) Highly bound to serum proteins
D) Highly bound to a specific carrier protein
E) Rapidly metabolized
F) Secreted unmetabolized in the urine
A
Lipophilic drugs are most likely to concentrate in body compartments outside the general circulation. The more drug that is concentrated outside of the circulation, the higher the apparent volume of distribution will be; more drug will be in the body than will be detected by the actual concentration of drug in the blood.
B) More highly ionized drugs are less likely to move out of the blood into tissue compartments
C and D) Binding to serum proteins will keep more drug in the blood
E and F) Metabolism and excretion do not directly affect volume of distribution; they affect the amount of drug in the body, but not the distribution
Use the following graph to answer the question.
Which of the following statements is most true concerning Drugs X and Y?
A) Drug X is more potent than Drug Y
B) Drug Y is more potent than Drug X
C) Drug X is more efficacious than Drug Y
D) Drug Y is more efficacious than Drug X
E) Drug Y has more receptors than Drug X
F) Drug X has more receptors than Drug Y
A
Drugs X and Y have the same efficacy, since the maximum effect that can be achieved with either drug is the same.
Drug X is more potent than drug Y, as illustrated by the fact that a lower amount of drug X is required to achieve the same amount of effect that requires a higher amount of drug Y.
In a graph of this type, it is assumed that both drugs are acting on the same receptors. However, even if that were not the case, these data do not give us any information about receptor number.
Which of the following is the most accurate definition of total drug clearance?
A) The total amount of drug removed from the blood in a given period of time
B) The percentage of drug metabolized by the liver
C) The volume of blood from which all drug is removed in a given period of time
D) The concentration of drug appearing in urine in a given period of time
E) The percentage of drug removed by the kidney in a given period of time
Answer C is the definition of total drug clearance. Clearance is comprised of a volume and a rate (i.e. per time). It is the volume of blood that would have all drug removed from it during the indicated amount of time in order to achieve the observed total concentration of drug in the blood. Clearance can also be stated as “the rate at which the drug is removed from a given volume of blood.”
A 51-year-old man takes a drug that was given to him by his friend in order to treat the symptoms of his migraine headache. Which of the following statements (all of which are accurate) identifies the mechanism of action of this therapeutic agent?
A) Causes vasoconstriction of cerebral vessels
B) Induces a myocardial infarction in predisposed patients
C) Is taken orally
D) Functions as an agonist at 5-HT1B/1D receptors
E) Also used to relieve the symptoms of cluster headaches
F) Readily crosses the blood-brain barrier
D is the correct answer because this describes how the drug works at the molecular level.
A is pharmacological effect.
B is adverse effect.
C is route of administration.
E is therapeutic use.
F is drug distribution.
T or F:
Drug X is more potent than Drug Y
Drug X is more efficacious than Drug Y
True
This can appear to be a trick question, but it is one you should be aware of. If you look at how much of drug X it would take to achieve, for example about half of its maximal effect, it would take much more of drug Y to achieve the same effect. The fact that drug X is not able to achieve the same maximal response as drug Y, is not relevant to potency in this question.
False
Because the maximal effect achievable with drug X, even at the saturated high dose is less than that which can be achieved by much higher doses of Y means that drug Y is more efficacious, even though it is less potent.
A new drug has been formulated, and it is found that when the drug is administered orally only 8% of the drug reaches the general circulation.
Which of the following terms best applies to the 8% of the drug that reaches the circulation?
A) First pass effect
B) Bioavailability
C) Clearance
D) Efficacy
E) Apparent volume of distribution
What term most likely describes why only 8% of the drug reaches the general circulation?
A) First pass effect
B) Bioavailability
C) Clearance
D) Efficacy
E) Apparent volume of distribution
11) Ans: B
The fraction of administered drug that reaches the general circulation is the definition of bioavailability.
A) The first pass effect may be responsible for much of the low bioavailability, but it is not what “bioavailability” means
C) The clearance rate will affect how much drug remains in the circulation over time, but it does not affect bioavailability
D) Efficacy refers to the physiological response, not how much drug is available to cause the response
E) Drug distribution will affect how much drug remains in the circulation, but it does not affect bioavailability
12) Ans: A
The drug is administered orally, which means that it has to pass into the gastrointestinal tract where it may be metabolized. It then enters the portal circulation and is carried to the liver where it will encounter drug metabolizing enzymes prior to reaching the general circulation. This combination of events is referred to as the first pass effect and decreases the bioavailability of many orally-administered drugs.
See the explanation of other answer choices for Question 11.
