Pharmacology Flashcards
Pharmacodynamics is…
what a drug does to the body - i.e. its pharmacological effect
Pharmacokinetics is…
what the body does to a drug - i.e. its metabolism ADME
Examples of target molecules a drug might bind (6)
Receptors, channels, enzymes, carrier molecules, RNA and DNA
Drugs may be agonists or antagonists. What is an agonist?
A drug that binds to a receptor to produce a cellular response
Drugs may be agonists or antagonists. What is an antagonist?
a drug that blocks the actions of an agonist
Agonists possess affinity and efficacy…what is affinity?
the ability of a drug to bind a receptor
Agonists possess affinity and efficacy…what is efficacy?
the ability of a drug to elicit a response from the receptor
Antagonists possess affinity and efficacy - True or false?
False - they possess affinity but not efficacy. They cannot elicit a response from a receptor therefore there is no efficacy
What is the EC50?
the concentration of agonist needed to produce a half-maximal response
Potency refers to the ability of an agonist being able to exert the same response but at a _____ concentration than a drug with equal efficacy
lower - the lower the concentration a drug requires to exert the same response as an equivalent drug, the more potent the drug is
What is competitive antagonism?
when an agonist and antagonist compete for the same binding site
What is non-competitive antagonism?
when the antagonist binds at a different site to the agonist
Which form of antagonism is reversible?
competitive antagonism - increase the concentration of agonist so that it out-competes the antagonist
In order to achieve an effect, a drug must reach the ______ _______ _______
minimum effective concentration (MEC)
The therapeutic ratio is defined as?
the MTC/MEC - the area between the minimal effective concentration and the maximum tolerated concentration
