Ligand Channels and G-protein coupled receptors Flashcards
Drugs can either be _______ mediated or ____________ mediated.
receptor mediated or nonreceptor mediated.
Name a non-receptor mediated drug.
An osmotic laxative. It does not require receptor interactions to provide its effects.
Are general anesthetics receptor mediated or non-receptor mediated?
General anesthetics do have some receptors but effects are so widespread it is also thought that they may act without receptors.
Non receptor mediated drugs tend to act more based on their ______________.
chemical properties
The lock and key model is an example of: (receptor mediated or non-receptor mediated)
receptor mediated
The substance that interacts at the receptor binding site is a: ______________.
ligand
Receptors exist on the cell, not to interact with drug molecules, but to interact with:
some normal endogenous ligand or common environmental material.
Drug molecules that interact with receptors either _______ or __________ normal body compounds.
mimic or inhibit
Receptors and the compounds with which they interact are chemical entities and behave according to:
chemical principles
Receptors are _________ structures with multiple protein subunits.
protein structures with multiple protein subunits.
The binding site on a protein may be just __________ of the protein.
one small part
Define affinity.
how well a particular compound is drawn into and held at the binding site.
The degree of affinity can be calculated by looking at the __________________________.
equilibrium dissociation constant
The smaller the equilibrium dissociation constant, the __________ the affinity of the drug for its receptor.
greater
Particles move around by Brownian motion (random movement). What does this mean for particles and if they will react with a receptor?
It is completely random chance that a drug or even the normal receptor ligand will react with the receptor.
What would increase the chances that a drug will react with a receptor?
by increasing the amount of drug particles present near the receptor site.
The greater the concentration of particles near the receptor, the _________ one is to interact there.
more likely
If the molecule interacts at the receptor, it is said to have ______________ there.
affinity
The stronger the interaction between ligand and receptor the greater the ____________.
affinity
How long will a drug stay attached at the receptor site?
it is unknown. the drug can be knocked off the receptor site by other molecules floating around.
The more drug hanging around the receptor site, the ________ ________ drug will be attached to the receptor site at any given time.
more likely
As the concentration of the drug goes down, the amount of drug hanging around the receptor goes down, and the time the receptor is occupied goes:_______
goes down also.
What are two characteristics of ligands that will affect affinity?
- The ligand’s shape
- its chemical makeup (for example a positively charged ligand will easily react with a negatively charged receptor)
Define intrinsic activity of the a ligand.
Intrinsic activity defines the effects of a ligand when it interacts at a receptor site.
If a ligand has a good affinity for a receptor, will it always have good intrinsic activity?
Not necessarily. Once bound, the ligand may be bound tight but not have a very powerful effect, in fact, sometimes it may not elicit at response at all.
Is there such a thing as a ligand having good intrinsic activity but poor affinity?
Yes, it will elicit a poor response though, because of the poor affinity even if intrinsic activity is high.
In a dose response curve, we typically see low activity, with a slight increase, then a sudden blast of activity. Why is this behavior typical?
Because a certain number of receptors need to be occupied before a response is observed.
Despite the number of receptors occupied, occupying more receptors (will/ will not) always increase a response.
Will not. Every tissue has a limited response. (It is theorized that the excess receptors are used for providing a graded response)
Receptors are made of amino acids that are _____________ to the microenvironment in which they exist.
very sensitive
Are receptors sensitive to the pH surrounding them?
Yes, even slight changes in pH can change the way a receptor functions and how it interacts.
When a drug compound mimics the effect of the endogenous compound for a receptor at that receptor site, and has both good affinity and good intrinsic activity, the drug is classified as a:
agonist
What is a partial agonist?
A drug that mimics the endogenous compound at its receptor site but elicits a weaker response. (because it elicits a weaker response than the endogenous compound, it can be mistaken for an antagonist, but it’s not it’s just a parital agonist).
Remember, an agonist given as a drug ______ the body’s endogenous compound for that receptor site.
displaces
What is meant by physiological agonist?
Compounds that produce the same physiological/ biological effect but act at completely different receptor sites.
Describe how ketamine and propofol are physiological agonists.
Ketamine acts at the NMDA receptor, propofol acts at the GABA receptor. They act at different receptors but both have the same physiological effect of causing loss of consciousness.
What are coagonists?
coagonists are active, not on their own, but in conjunction with multiple compounds, to produce the desired effect.
What are selective agonists?
Agonists that are selective for a very specific receptor site. ex. Albuterol is only active at Beta 2 receptor site.
What are nonselective agonists?
they act on many different receptor sites. Ex, isoproterenol acts on both Beta 1 and Beta 2 sites.
What do antagonists do?
Block agonist interaction at the receptor zone
What is a competitive antagonist?
this antagonist interacts at the same receptor site as the normal agonist. Therefore it must possess a powerful affinity, to interact with the receptor, but have no intrinsic activity, so it does not stimulate the receptor.
What is the law of mass action?
The more drug occupying the space around the receptor site, the more likely the receptor is to be occupied by the drug.
So according to the law of mass action, if an agonist drug is present in large quantities around the receptor site, and you give an antagonist, in such an amount that it outnumbers the agonist, which will be more likely to be attached at the receptor site?
The antagonist.
Using the example of neuromuscular blockade, describe how the law of mass action is in effect.
We give vecuronium which is a competitive antagonist at the nicotinic receptor where it blocks Ach (the endogenous ligand) from binding. We reverse it by giving neostigmine, which inhibits the breakdown of Ach and floods the site around the receptor area with Ach, effectively outnumbering the amount of vecuronium there, making AcH more likely to be bound and decreasing the effects of vecuronium.
What are the 2 types of noncompetitive antagonism?
- Irreversible binding
- Allosteric site
What is irreversible binding?
When a drug binds for a very long time, no matter how many agonists you put around it, it will not budge. Even if it’s own concentration drops, it still will not budge. Even if some of the receptors on the cell are occupied by agonists, their collective action will not outweigh the effect of the irreversibly bound agent.
What is meant by allosteric site?
When noncompetitive antagonists interact with the receptor complex at another site, other than the agonist site.
How does allosteric inhibition work?
the binding of an antagonist causes a conformational change at the agonist site causing it to be: no longer available for binding, or no longer able to elicit its effect. (however, the binding to allosteric sites is not irreversible, and as the concentration of allosteric antagonist decreases, the receptor complex may revert back to its normal conformation.
What is allosteric potentiation?
Not a form of antagonism but actually a form of agonism. A compound acts at the allosteric site that actually enhances the affinity of the normal agonist for its binding site.
Decribe up-regulation of receptors using AcH as an example?
If AcH is blocked at the neuromuscular junction, the body senses that, and in reponse to deprivation of the ligand, upregulates the number of receptors available
If a cell has upregulated receptors in response to ligand deprivation, a sudden increase in ligand will:
cause detrimental effects and overstimulation
Describe down-regulation of receptors?
If a cell is flooded with ligand, it can down regulate the number of receptors, but if the source is suddenly cut off, you get less functioning and inadequate receptor stimulation.
Because of the upregulation and downregulation of receptors, many drugs should be ________ and not stopped abruptly, in which case they would cause a massive response.
weaned off
Do all channels in the cell membrane have a receptor mediated response?
No, for example, the inward rectified K+ channel is always open, it depends only on the concentration gradient for K+
Describe ligand gated ion channels.
They may be huge and span the cell membrane. They may require multiple ligands to react at different ligand sites. They may be extracellular or intracellular. Many neurotransmitters act on these receptor sites. Often times they cause an ion channel to open.
What is a metabophore?
Membrane receptor composed of an external binding site and an internal enzymatic component. The action at the external component causes the internal to be activated. It causes things like the conversion of GTP to cGMP which acts as a second messenger, triggering other biological processes.
Describe G-protein coupled receptors.
They control biochemical pathways inside the cell from an external signal. G- protein coupled receptors are not as simple as metabophores, they activate a series of changes that may lead to control of a specific enzyme. This is the most common type of receptor found in cell membranes.
G-protein coupled receptors are (large/ small) proteins with ______ membrane loops.
large proteins with 7 membrane loops.
Give an example of an intracellular receptor.
These are not associated with the cell membrane. ex. is steroid receptors. steroids are lipid soluble and easily cross the cell membrane, they interact inside the cell and cause a dimer to be formed which enters the nucleus and affects DNA transcription
One group of general anesthetics are agents that increase inhibitory pathways on GABA receptors. How does this work? Name some of the drugs in this group.
-Ligand gated ion channel at the GABA receptor opens, Cl enters the cell, negative charge lowers intracellular voltage, makes cell more resistant to depolarization (hyperpolarizes)
- barbiturates
- propofol
- etomidate
- isoflurane
- desflurane
- sevoflurane (all of these allosterically bind and use GABA at it’s receptor site)
General anethetics like Xenon, Nitrous Oxide, and Ketamine act at which receptor site?
These act to decrease excitatory activity at NMDA glutamate receptor sites and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors sites in the brain and spinal cord.
The two main membrane receptors we studied are:
ligand gated ion channels and g-protein coupled receptors
Cells communicate with each other using __________ which elicit changes in the enzymatic activity of the target cell.
chemical messengers
Action potentials are characteristic of ___________, __________, __________, and _________.
neurons, muscle cells, cardiac cells, and some glands.
Propogation of action potentials from one cell to another is ________ for cell to cell communication.
vital