Pharmacology Flashcards
What is pharmacodynamics?
what a drug does to the body so the biological effects and the mechanism of action
What is pharmacokinetics?
what the body does to a drug so the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion
What is an agonist?
a drug that binds to a receptor to produce a cellular response
What is an antagonist?
a drug that reduces or blocks the actions of an agonist by binding to the same receptor
What is affinity?
the strength of the association between a ligand and a receptor which is covered by binding and unbinding rate (latter is more significant) and chemical bonds between the ligand and receptor
What is efficacy?
the ability of an agonist to evoke a cellular response
Do antagonists have affinity or efficacy?
affinity but not efficacy as they don’t activate receptors
What is the relationship between receptor occupancy and agonist concentration?
hyperbolic
What is EC50 equal to?
the concentration of agonist that elicits a half maximal response
What happens to the receptor occupancy against agonist concentration graph if you make it semi-logarithmic?
it will be sigmoidal shape which is easier to use to calculate EC50
What does a lower or higher EC50 say about the potency of an agonist?
lower EC50 is more potent
higher EC50 is less potent
What does a higher maximal response say about the efficacy of an agonist?
- higher percentage maximum response is more efficacy so a full agonist
- lower percentage maximum response is lead efficacy so a partial agonist
What does equipotent mean?
the two drugs have equal potency but not necessarily efficacy so same horizontal reach along the graph
What is reversible competitive antagonism and what is it overcome by?
competition for the same arthosteric site and can be overcome by increasing agonist concentration
What is non-competitive antagonism?
binds to allosteric site and activation can’t occur when antagonist is bound
What does a competitive antagonist do to the sigmoidal graph?
rightward shift but no change in the maximum reached
What does a non-competitive antagonist do to the sigmoidal graph?
causes a depression of the slope but no sideways shift
What does an increasing concentration of antagonist do to the change in the graph?
- increased concentration of competitive gives a greater rightward shift
- increased concentration of non-competitive gives a greater depression
What are receptors the targets of?
neurotransmitters
hormones
other mediators and therapeutic agents
What do autocrine, paracrine and endocrine cells signal to?
- autocrine signal to itself
- paracrine signal to close neighbours
- endocrine signal over long distances using the blood
What are the four types of receptors?
- Type 1: ligand-gated ion channels/ inotropic
- Type 2: G protein-coupled receptors/ metabotropic
- Type 3: kinase-linked receptors/ enzyme-linked
- Type 4: nuclear receptors
What are the features of type 1 receptors?
- ligand-gated
- ionotropic
- on plasma membrane
- react quickly to hydrophilic signalling molecules
What are the features of type 2 receptors?
- G protein-coupled receptors
- metabotopic
- on plasma membrane
- react slowish to hydrophilic signalling molecules
What are the features of type 3 receptors?
- kinase-linked receptors
- enzyme-linked
- on plasma membrane
- slow reactions to hydrophilic protein mediators