Pharmacology Flashcards
Define pharmacodynamics?
What a drug does to the body (biological effects and mechanisms of action)
Define pharmacokinetics?
What the body does to a drug (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs and their metabolites)
What is the medical definition of a drug?
Any synthetic or natural substance used in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of disease
What are receptors?
Macromolecules that mediate the biological actions of hormones and neurotransmitters
What are agonists?
Drug that binds to receptor to produce a response
What are antagonists?
Drug that blocks the action of agonists
What is the affinity of a drug?
Binding step
Strength of association between ligand and receptor
What is the efficacy of a drug?
Activation step
The ability of an agonist to evoke a cellular response
Do agonists possess affinity or efficacy?
Both
Do antagonists possess affinity or efficacy?
Affinity only
What is the speed of reaction of a drug with low affinity?
Slow
What is the speed of reaction of a drug with high affinity?
Fast
What is the level of response of a drug with low efficacy?
Low
What is the level of response of a drug with high efficacy?
High
What is the relationship between agonist concentration and receptor occupancy?
Hyperbolic relationship showing saturation
What is the EC50?
Concentration of agonist which produces a half maximal response
What is the relationship between agonist concentration and response?
Sigmoidal, semi-logarithmic plot
Why is the sigmoidal plot better than that of the hyperbolic plot?
Encompasses a greater range of values
Gives a more accurate reading of the EC50
What is the potency of a drug?
The concentration of a drug required to produce an effect
i.e. the more drug needed, the less potent it is
How would a partial agonist be distinguished on a sigmoidal plot?
It will have less than 100% maximal response
How does competitive antagonism occur?
Agonist and antagonist bind to the same site (orthosteric)
How does non-competitive antagonism occur?
Antagonist binds to a separate allosteric site
Causes a conformational change in receptor change - even if agonist binds, receptor remains inactive in presence of antagonist
What is the effect of adding a non-competitive antagonist on the agonist-response curve?
No shift
Maximal response depressed
Slope clearly flattened
What is the effect of adding a competitive antagonist on the agonist-response curve?
Parallel shift to the right
No depression of maximal response
What are the four phases involved in drug disposition?
Absorption
Distribution
Metabolism
Excretion
What is absorption?
The process by which a drug enters the body, where the GI tract is considered outside
What is distribution?
The process by which a drug leaves the circulation an d enters the tissues perfused by blood
What is metabolism?
The process by which tissue enzymes catalyse the chemical conversion of a drug to a more polar form that is more readily excreted