Molecules Exam 1a Flashcards
Pharmacology
The study of drug action on biological systems. What can we target?
Medicinal Chemistry
Design and optimization of drug molecules
Pharmaceutics
The science of drug delivery systems
What is a Drug?
Any chemical agent (other than food) that causes a physical or emotional change in an individual
Most drugs are less than how many daltons?
500
Serendipitous Drug Discovery
When your research is looking for something but you end up discovering something else
Why would enhancing a side effect be a good thing?
You can alter a drug with a certain side effect, such as increasing urinary output, and alter that drug to be made to increase urinary output (diuretic)
Why is selectivity important?
If there is a certain receptor that produces a certain side effect that you want to inhibit, you design the drug to be an antagonist to that receptor.
2 main reasons that drugs fail in clinical phase
Safety and efficacy
What is the importance of Gleevec?
It is a cancer therapy drug that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy cells intact. Gleevec’s mechanism focuses on a specific protein that does not exist anywhere else in the body.
Gene cloning is done with what kind of proteins?
Recombinant
Pharmacokinetic concept
When a drug is working to change the amount/concentration of another drug
Pharmacodynamic concept
When a drug changes the effect of another drug without changing the amount of drug
Pharmacokinetic definition
What the body does to the drug
Pharmacodynamic definition
What the drug does to the body
What route of administration is the only route that does not go through the venous side?
Inhalation
Absorption
When the drug has to go through a barrier before it can enter the bloodstream
When would it be desirable for an oral drug to have minimal absorption?
If the drug is treating something in the intestines, then it would be beneficial for the drug to stay there to treat it
Bioavailability
The rate and extent to which a drug is absorbed and becomes available at the site of action
Fenestrae
Windows(opening/pore) in capillaries that drugs can pass through endothelial cells
What organ does not have fenestrae?`
Brain capillaries
3 properties that allow molecules to freely diffuse through cell membranes
Low molecular weight, high lipid solubility, and uncharged
Does increased lipid solubility increase or decrease absorption?
Increase
What do you do to polar functional side groups in order to increase membrane permeability?
Remove them. The less polar functional groups, the more lipophilic the drug is and more easily absorbed.
What are prodrugs and why are they important?
They are drugs with added esters where polar or ionizable groups are masked with hydrophobic residues. After uptake of the drug, the hydrophobic groups are cleaved enzymatically which leaves the original drug in the bloodstream.
Is an acidic drug better absorbed in an acidic environment or basic environment? Why?
Acidic because it will be protonated and made neutral, which will allow it to be absorbed.
Where will amphetamine (pka 10) be best absorbed? Stomach (pH 1) or intestine (pH 8.5)?
Intestine because its more basic and deprotonates the drug making it neutral and able to be absorbed.