Pharm-Ch. 2

Question 1

Absorption

Answer 1

what happens to a drug from the time it enters the body until it enters the circulating fluid; intravenous administration causes the drug to directly enter the circulating blood, bypassing the many complications of absorption from other routes.

Question 2

Active Transport

Answer 2

the movement of substances across a cell membrane against the concentration gradient; this process requires the use of energy.

Question 3

Chemotherapeutic Agents

Answer 3

synthetic chemicals used to interfere with the functioning of foreign cell populations; this term is frequently used to refer to the drug therapy of neoplasms, but it also refers to drug therapy affecting any foreign cell.

Question 4

Critical Concentration

Answer 4

the concentration a drug must reach in the tissues that respond to the particular drug to cause the desired therapeutic effect.

Question 5

Distribution

Answer 5

movement of a drug to body tissues; the places where a drug may be distributed depend on the drug’s solubility, perfusion of the area, cardiac output, and binding of the drug to plasma proteins.

Question 6

Enzyme Induction

Answer 6

process by which the presence of a chemical that is biotransformed by a particular enzyme system in the liver causes increased activity of that enzyme system.

Question 7

Excretion

Answer 7

removal of a drug from the body; primarily occurs in the kidneys, but can also occur through the skin, lungs, bile, or feces.

Question 8

First-Pass Effect

Answer 8

a phenomenon in which drugs given orally are carried directly to the liver after absorption, where they may be largely inactivated by liver enzymes before they can enter the general circulation; oral drugs frequently are given in higher doses than drugs given by other routes because of this early breakdown.

Question 9

Glomerular Filtration

Answer 9

the passage of water and water-soluble components from the plasma into the renal tubule.

Question 10

Half-Life

Answer 10

the time it takes for the amount of drug in the body to decrease to one half of the peak level it previously achieved.

Question 11

Hepatic Microsomal System

Answer 11

liver enzymes tightly packed together in the hepatic intracellular structure, responsible for the biotransformation of chemicals, including drugs.

Question 12

Loading Dose

Answer 12

use of a higher dose than what is usually used for treatment to allow the drug to reach the critical concentration sooner.

Question 13

Passive Diffusion

Answer 13

movement of substances across a semipermeable membrane with the concentration gradient;this process does not require energy.

Question 14

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 14

the study of the interactions between the chemical components of living systems and the foreign chemicals, including drugs, that enter living organisms; the way a drug affects a body.

Question 15

Pharmacogenomics

Answer 15

the study of genetically determined variations in the response to drugs.

Question 16

Phamacokinetics

Answer 16

the way the body deals with a drug, including absorption, distribution, biotransformation, and excretion.

Question 17

Placebo Effect

Answer 17

documented effect of the mind on drug therapy; if a person perceives that a drug will be effective, the drug is much more likely to actually be effective.

Question 18

Receptor Sites

Answer 18

specific areas on cell membranes that react with certain chemicals to cause an effect within the cell.

Question 19

Selective Toxicity

Answer 19

property of a chemotherapeutic agent that affects only systems found in foreign cells without affecting healthy human cells (e.g. specific antibiotics can affect certain proteins or enzyme systems used by bacteria by not by human cells.