Pharmacology Flashcards
What is pharmacodynamics?
how the drug affects the body
What is pharmacokinetics?
how the body affects the drug: disposition of the compound
absorption > distribution > metabolism > excretion
What is druggability?
ability of a protein target to bind small molecules with high affinity
What are the 4 main drug targets?
receptors
enzymes
transporters
ion channels
How do receptors work as drug targets?
interact with a ligand = initiates a change
ligands are exogenous (drugs) or endogenous (hormones, NTs)
Receptors facilitate communication between chemicals via what?
neurotransmitters eg ACh, serotonin
autacoids (locally produced) eg cytokines, hormones
hormones eg testosterone, hydrocortisone
What are the 4 types of receptor?
ligand-gated ion channels
g-protein coupled
kinase-linked receptors
nuclear receptors
Give an example of a ligand-gated ion channel?
nicotinic ACh receptor
Give an example of a g-protein coupled receptor?
beta-adrenoceptors
What ligands can interact with g protein coupled receptors?
light energy, peptides, lipids, sugars, proteins
How do g protein coupled receptors work?
g proteins transmit signals from GPCRs
g proteins = GTPases are molecular switches
ON = bound to GDP
OFF = bound to GTP
How does the muscarinic ACh receptor (M3R) work?
g protein coupled
couples with Gq and PLC
produces 2nd messengers: IP3 or DAG
How do beta-2-adrenoceptors work?
g protein coupled
couples with Gs and AC
produces 2nd messenger cyclic-AMP
How do kinase-linked receptors work?
ligand binds to receptor on tyrosine kinas
kinase activity is stimulated (enzymatic)
tyrosines are phosphorylated
intracellular proteins bind to phospho-tyrosine docking sites
How do nuclear receptors work?
steroid receptors
modify gene transcription
have zinc fingers which bind to DNA
Give 2 examples for how chemical imbalances can lead to pathology?
allergy = increase in histamine Parkinson's = decrease in dopamine
Give 2 examples of how receptor imbalances can lead to pathology.
myasthenia gravis = loss of ACh receptors
mastocytosis = increase in c-kit receptor
What is potency?
measure of how well a drug works
highly potent = low concentrations illicit a great response
What is the EC50 of a drug?
the concentration that gives half the maximal response
What is the efficacy/intrinsic activity of a drug?
the maximum response achievable from a dose (the Emax of a drug)
the higher the Emax, the higher the efficacy
How is intrinsic activity calculated?
Emax of partial agonist/Emax of full agonist
What is a full agonist compared to a partial agonist?
full agonist can reach a 100% response - their Emax is 100
a partial agonist cannot get a full response and has an Emax below 100
What are antagonists?
decrease the effect of agonists
DON’T activate receptors
What is a competitive antagonist?
compete with agonist to bind so the agonist has no effect
bind to the same active site
How does a competitive antagonist affect a response graph?
shifts right
must increase amount of agonist to illicit same response
What is a non-competitive antagonist?
binds to an allosteric site on receptor to prevent it’s activation by an agonist
How does a non-competitive antagonist affect a response graph?
shifts right and down
even more agonist needed for the same response
What are the 2 main cholinergic receptor agonists?
muscarine (mACh receptor)
nicotine (nACh receptor)
What is the antagonist of muscarine?
atropine
What is the antagonist of nicotine?
curare
What type of receptor are all histamine receptors?
G-protein coupled receptors
What is the agonist for a histamine receptor?
histamine
What does histamine do in the gut when it binds to a histamine receptor?
contraction fo ileum
acid secretion from parietal cells
What is the antagonist to histamine?
mepryamine
What effect foes mepryamine have on the gut when it binds to a histamine receptor?
reversed contraction of ileum
no effect on acid secretion
What are the main 4 factors governing drug action?
- affinity
- efficacy
- number of receptors
- signal amplification
What is the affinity of a drug?
how well a ligand binds to the receptor
What is the efficacy of a drug?
how well a ligand activates the receptor
Do antagonists show affinity and efficacy?
does show affinity
has 0 efficacy
What happens when the number of receptors is reduced?
more drug is required to illicit the same response
max response can usually still be achieved
What is the receptor reserve?
where agonists need to activate only a small number of receptors to reach max response
= spare receptors
holds for full agonist in many tissues but no reserve for partial agonists
How can receptors be inactivated? Give an example.
by irreversible antagonists
eg bromoacetyl alprenolol menthane (BAAM) = irreversible B-adrenoceptor antagonist
What is signal amplification in drug action?
determines how powerful a response will be depending on the type of tissue the receptor is in
tissues with the same receptor and agonist may have completely different responses
What is allosteric modulation?
binding of an allosteric ligand to a receptor can effect an agonist’s effect