Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is pharmacodynamics?
Study of the molecular, biochemical and physiological effects of drugs on cellular/body systems and their mechanisms of action
What is pharacokinetics?
Study of the absorption, distribution and elimination of drugs
what is pharacogenomics?
Study of genetic influences on the effectiveness and fate of drugs
What is toxicology?
The study of the adverse or toxic effects of drugs and other chemical agents
What is a drug?
A chemical/substance that is usually used to treat a disease or condition through biochemical/molecular or physiological changes induced by appropriate administration
What is the difference between a drug and a supplement?
Drugs have gone through a regulatory approval process and can be marketed as having therapeutic properties, while supplements may contain substances that help with certain conditions but have not going through regulatory approval and therefore can not make therapeutic claims
Where do drugs come from?
Plants, Micro-organisms, endogenous proteins/steroids, modification of endogenous compounds, synthetic chemicals
What drugs come from plants and herbs?
Opium poppy produces juice from its seeds that yields morphine
Foxglove leaves contain digoxin which is a reversible inhibitor of Na/K ATPase which is lethal at high doses but can be used to treat congestive heart failure
What drugs come from micro-organisms?
Antibiotics such as penicillin
What drugs come from the body itself?
Hormones such as insulin for diabetes treatment, thyroxine for thyroid insufficiency, growth hormone for treatment of short stature
How are most hormonal drugs are now produced?
Through recombinant DNA technology (as it produces a cleaner product)
What drugs come from chemical modification of the body’s own hormones or chemical regulators?
Hormonal drugs such as ethinyl estradiol which is a readily absorbed from of oestrogen and Prednisolone which is a synthetic steroid with glucocorticoid like actions
Anticancer drugs such as 6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine which are modified nucleic acid components which interferes with nucleic acid synthesis
what drugs come from the chemical synthesis of new compounds?
Indomethacin and celecoxib which are COXII inhibitors
Cimetidine which is a histamine receptor modulator
Simvastatin which is a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
What are some drugs that were discovered by chance?
Antidepressants such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors from failed tuberculosis treatments and tricyclic antidepressants from failed pre-anaesthetic agents
Cisplatin, platinum containing drug used to treat a number of cancers, discovered through investigating the effect of electrical fields on bacterial growth
Viagra discovered in a study of hypotension in male medical students
What are the two types of name used to describe drugs?
Generic name (one per drug) related to drug structure/function/source etc Brand name (potentially many per drug) used for marketing by the drug company
