Pharmacological principles of addiction

Question 1

what does lethality mean?

Answer 1

how common is death through overdose?

Question 2

what does DSMV mean?

Answer 2

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders five

Question 3

what is the DSMV used for?

Answer 3

it is a criteria used to identify substance dependence

Question 4

what is substance dependence?

Answer 4

a maladaptive pattern of substance use that leads to impairment or distress which is shown as tolerance, withdrawal etc.

Question 5

what does the frontal cortex control?

Answer 5

Planning, Strategizing, Logic, Judgment

Question 6

what does the corpus callosum control?

Answer 6

creativity and problem solving

Question 7

what does the cerebellum control?

Answer 7

Coordinates muscles/ movement and thinking processes

Question 8

what does the extended amygdala control?

Answer 8

Emotional responses: fear and anger

Question 9

what does the hippocampus control?

Answer 9

Forms Memories and

Coordinates thinking processes

Question 10

what does the dopamine pathway control?

Answer 10

• reward
• pleasure
• euphoria
• motor function
• decision making

Question 11

what does the serotonin pathway control?

Answer 11

1. mood
2. memory
3. sleep
4. cognition

Question 12

where are dopamine agonists administered into?

Answer 12

the nucleus accumbens

Question 13

what is the mechanism of cocaine action?

Answer 13

• binds to dopamine transporter
• inhibits dopamine reuptake from synaptic cleft
• increasing dopamine activity
• causing hyperactivity of D1 and D2 receptors

Question 14

what is the mechanism of amphetamine action?

Answer 14

• actively transported into cell by dopamine transporter
• dopamine actively removed from pre-synapse into synaptic cleft
• increasing dopamine concentration in the cleft so longer dopamine signalling

Question 15

what happens to amphetamine in the synapse?

Answer 15

• it is transported into vesicles by vesicular transporters
• here it inhibits further transmitter packing
• so transmitter concentration in the cytoplasm increases causing it to diffuse into the extracellular space.

Question 16

how do opiates work?

Answer 16

• bind to mu-opiate receptors in the GABAergic interneurones of the ventral tegmental area to inhibit GABAergic activity
• this therefore inhibits the inhibitory effect of GABA so there is an increase in dopamine neurone firing frequency

Question 17

what effect does GABA usually have?

Answer 17

an inhibiting effect - it inhibits the firing of dopamine neurones

Question 18

what is the mechanism of nicotine action?

Answer 18

• binds to nicotinergic acetylcholine receptors in the ventral tegmental area
• this has an excitatory effect
• it increases dopamine release

Question 19

what is the mechanism of alcohol action?

Answer 19

• it potentiates GABA effects at the GABA receptor and inhibits the glutamate effects at the NMDA receptor
• this reduces GABAergic neurones
• this also enhances the excitatory effects of serotonin via 5HT receptors

Question 20

what part of the brain is activated when drugs of abuse are abruptly ceased?

Answer 20

the thalamus

Question 21

what does the corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) system do?

Answer 21

mediates the affective and somatic symptoms of drug withdrawal

Question 22

what effect do these neurotransmitters have when intoxicated with a drug:

a. dopamine
b. opioid peptides
c. serotonin
d. GABA

Answer 22

a. dopamine = euphoria
b. opioid = analgesia and relaxation
c. Serotonin = elevated mood
d. GABA = less anxious and panicky, more relaxed

Question 23

what effect do these neurotransmitters have when experiencing withdrawal:

a. dopamine
b. serotonin
c. GABA
d. norepinephrine
e. glutamate
f. CRF
g. opioid peptides

Answer 23

a. dopamine = dysphoria
b. serotonin = dysphoria
c. GABA = anxiety and panic attacks
d. norepinephrine = stress
e. glutamate = hyperexcitability
f. CRF = stress
g. opioid peptides = increased pain