Pharmacology Flashcards
What are the 3 major ways that antibiotics can kill bacteria?
- Inhibit cell wall synthesis
- Inhibit nucleic acid synthesis
- Inhibit protein synthesis
What two types of antibiotics inhibit cell wall synthesis?
Glycopeptides, beta lactams
What are the 3 types of beta lactams?
Penicillins, Cephalosporins, carbapenems
Name a glycopeptide antibiotic
Vancomycin
What is vancomycin used to treat?
C diff (Second line), Severe staph infections e.g. MRSA
List 3 types of penicillins
Benzylpenicillin, flucloxacillin and amoxicillin/ampicillin
What is benzylpenicillin used to treat?
General resp infections ( pneumonia, strep throat). Also syphilis, gonococcal infection
What is flucloxacillin used to treat?
Cellulitis and other skin infections (diabetic skin infections, ulcers etc)
Staph Aureus, Strep Pyogenes
What is ampicillin/amoxicillin used to treat?
Community Acquired pneumonia, COPD exacerbations, UTIs (2nd line)
What are the three generations of cephalosporins?
1st gen: Cephalexin
2nd gen: Cefuroxime
3rd gen: Ceftazidime= Ceftriaxone
What are cephalosporins used to treat?
Chlamydia and Gonnohea
Staph Aureus, streptococci, nisseriae, haemophillus, coliforms
Name a carbapenem antibiotic
Imipenems, ertapenems
What are the cautions of glycopeptides?
Caution in renal impairment, history of deafness, pregnancy
What are the contraindications of penicillins?
Penicillin hypersensitivity
What are the side effects of benzylpenicillin and flucloxacillin?
Hypersensitivity reactions
What are the side effects of ampicillin/amoxicillin?
Nausea, vomitting
What are the four ways that antibiotics can inhibit nucleic acid synthesis?
Inhibit folate synthesis
Inhibit DNA gyrase
Bind to RNA polymerase
DNA strand breaks
Which antibiotics inhibit folate synthesis?
Trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole, and co-trimoxazole (both combined)
Which antibiotics inhibit DNA gyrase?
Fluoroquinolones: Ciprofloxacin
Name an antibiotic that binds to RNA polymerase
Rifampicin
Which antibiotics causes DNA strand breaks?
Nitrodimazoles: metronidazole
What is trimethoprim used to treat?
UTI, prostatitis, acute/chronic bronchitis
Co-trimoxazole= PCP treatment and prophylaxis
What is Ciprofloxacin used to treat?
Acute pyelonephritis, gastroenteritis
What is rifampicin used to treat?
Mycobacteria- used as part of the quadruple TB treatment
What are nitrodimazoles used to treat?
Anaerobes, parasites
What are the cautions of Trimethoprim?
Pregnancy as inhibit folate synthesis
What are the side effects of trimethoprim?
Hyperkalaemia, depression of haematopoesis
Co-trimoxazole= Hyperkalaemia, Rash
What are the cautions of Fluoroquinolones?
Epilepsy, D6PD deficiency, myasthenia gravis
What are the contraindications of rifampicin?
Jaundice
What are the side effects of rifampicin?
Orange discolouration of saliva and urine, anorexia, nausea and vomitting, haemolytic anaemia
What are the contraindications of metronidazole?
Interaction with alcohol= profuse vomitting
What are the four types of antibiotics that inhibit protein synthesis?
Chloramphenicol
Macrolides
Tetracyclines
Aminoglycosides
List two macrolide antibiotics
Clarithromycin and erythromycin
List two tetracycline antibiotics
Tetracycline, doxycycline
List two aminoglycoside antibiotics
Gentamycin and streptomycin
What are macrolides used to treat?
General alternative to penicillin
What are tetracyclines used to treat?
Broad spectrum antibiotic.
Acne, Chlamydia, SIADH
What is gentamycin used to treat?
Staph, aureus, gram -ve bacilli, used for severe sepsis
What are the contraindications of tetracyclines?
Children <12 due to deposition in bone and teeth leading to hypoplasia, renal disease
What are the contraindications of aminoglycosides?
Myasthenia gravis
What antibiotic is usually used to treat non severe community acquired pneumonia?
Amoxicillin +/- clarithromycin
What antibiotic regime is usually used to treat TB?
RIPE= Rifampin (6), Isoniazid (6) , Pyrazinamide (2), and Ethambutol (2)
What antibiotic is usually used to treat atypical community acquired pneumonia?
Clarithromycin
What antibiotic is usually used to treat cellulitis?
Flucloxacillin
What antibiotic is usually used to treat infrequent exacerbations of COPD?
Amoxicillin/ Clarithromycin/ Doxycline
What antibiotic is usually used to treat UTIs?
Trimethoprim/ Nitrofurantoin
What antibiotic is usually used to treat hospital acquired pneumonia?
Co-amoxiclav
What antibiotic is usually used to treat acute pyelonephritis?
Co-amoxiclav/ Ciprofloxacin
What antibiotic is usually used to treat gonorrhoea?
Ceftriaxone (IM)
Azithromycin (PO)
What antibiotic is used to treat chlamydia?
Doxycycline/ Azithromycin (PO)
What antibiotic is used to treat syphilis?
Benzylpenicillin
What antibiotic is used to treat gastroenteritis?
(Campylobacter) Clarithromycin
(Salmonella/ Shigella) Ciprofloxacin
What antibiotic is used to treat C.Difficile?
1st: Metronidazole
2nd: Vancomycin
What antibiotic is used to treat appendicitis?
Ceftriaxone and metronidazole
What is pharmodynamics?
How the drugs affects the body
What can drugs target?
Receptors, enzymes, transporters and ion channels
Name some types of receptors
Ligand-gated ion channels
G protein coupled receptors
Kinase-linked receptors
Nuclear receptors
What are the two types of G protein coupled receptors?
M3R and beta-2adrenoreceptors
What is potency?
A measure of how well a drug works
What is EC50?
The concentration of a drug that gives half the maximal response
What is an agonist?
A compound that binds to a receptor and activates it
What is an antagonist?
A compound that reduces the effect of an agonist
What is competitive antagonism?
When an antagonist competes with the agonist to bind receptors, thereby preventing agonists from having an effect.
What is non-competitive antagonism?
When an antagonist binds near the receptor causing a conformational change, so the agonist cannot activate the receptor
What effect does competitive antagonism have?
It causes the dose response curve to shift right, meaning that more agonist is required to illicit the same response
What effect does non-competitive antagonism have?
A right shift and down of the dose response curve= meaning that even more agonist is required to illicit the same response
What are the two types of cholinergic receptors?
Muscarinic ACh receptor and Nicotinic ACh receptor
What is affinity?
Describes how well a ligand binds to the receptor (shown by both antagonist and agonist)
What is efficacy?
Describes how well a ligand activates the receptor (only agonists show efficacy)
What is signaling transduction and amplification?
When a ligand binds at a receptor it sets off a signalling cascade which is then amplified. This can determine how powerful a response is
What is allosteric modulation?
When binding of an allosteric ligand to a receptor can affect an agonists effect on a receptor either positively (allosterically) or negatively (orthosterically)
What is inverse agonism?
When a drug binds to the same receptor as an agonist and induces a pharmacological response opposite to that agonist
What is tolerance?
The reduction in drug effect over time. It is seen with continuous, repeated high concentration over drug over time
Give an example of a selective drug
Salbutomol is a selective B2 adrenoceptor agonist (whereas isoprenaline is non selective so it activates both B1 and B2 receptors)
How do NSAIDs work?
They inhibit the enzyme cyclooxygenase by competitive inhibition, which is the enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H2
Are NSAIDs selective?
Most are selective- celecoxib is COX2 selective
Aspirin is non-selective so acts on both COX1 and COX2
Where is COX found?
COX1= Normally and widely around the body COX2= Induced and found in inflammation only
What is the role of uniporters?
Use energy from ATP to pull molecules in
What are symporters?
Use the movement of one molecule to move another molecule in against its concentration gradient
What are antiporters?
One substance moves against its conc gradient using energy from the second substance moving down its gradient (opposite directions)
What is the route of formation of dopamine?
L-Tyrosine forms L dopa
L dopa then forms dopamine via dopa decarboxylase
What is synergy?
Where the actions of two drugs combine, such as paracetamol and codeine to increase analgesic effect
What are some patient risk factors for drug interactions?
Polypharmacy Old age Genetics Hepatic disease Renal disease
What are some drug risk factors for interactions?
Narrow therapeutic index
Steep dose/response curve
Saturable metabolism
What is saturable metabolism?
When after a certain point, the drug cannot be metabolised anymore
What things can affect drug absorption?
Motility, Acidity, Solubility, Complex formation, enterocyte action
What interactions affect motility?
Antibiotics often cause diarrhoea, so interacts with the absorption of the oral contraceptive
What can affect the solubility of a drug?
Eating high fat food whilst taking a fat soluble drug will cause the drug to dissolve and thus not be absorbed
What four major things affect pharmokinetics?
Aborption
Distributions
Metabolism
Excretion
How might distribution of a drug be affected?
Protein binding in the plasma
How might metabolism of a drug be affected?
Things affecting Cytochrome P450
How might excretion of a drug be affected?
Renal excretion is pH dependent= Weak bases are cleared faster if urine is acidic, and vice versa
Name some acidic drugs
Aspirin, Ibuprofen, paracetamol, warfarin
Name some basic drugs
Amphetamine, atropine, propranolol, salbutamol
Name some ways to avoid drug interactions
Prescribe rationally= BNF
Medicines information service
Technological mechanisms
Name some foods that have drug interactions
Avocado, grapefruit juice, garlic, Soya, Ginger
Name 3 drug targets
Receptors, enzymes, transporters, ion channels
The action of a drug can be either receptor-related or tissue-related, which of these do the principles of affinity and efficacy influence? (1) What do agonists / antagonists show?
Affinity and efficacy relate to receptors
Agonists show affinity & efficacy / antagonists show affinity only
Describe the difference between tolerance and desensitisation?
Tolerance - reduction in drug effect over time (continuously repeated high conc)
Desensitisation - receptors become degraded / uncoupled / internalised
What class of drug is Candesartan?
Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker
Which common condition often diagnosed in childhood is a contraindication of beta-blockers and why?
Asthma
Beta-Blockers cause bronchoconstriction
Approximately 60% of the body is comprised of water. In an average 70Kg male this constitutes 42 L of water. Approximately how many liters of water would you expect to find in the following compartments of this patient: Intracellular, Extracellular, Plasma?
- Intracellular ~ 28L (2/3),
- Extracellular~ 14L (1/3).
- Plasma ~3 L (a component of the extracellular compartment)
What are the 4 stages of Pharmacokinetics?
- Absorption
- Distribution
- Metabolism
- Excretion
What is pharmacokinetics?
The fate of the drug in the body after administration
What is a first order reaction?
Where rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the concentration of the drug
What is a second order reaction?
Where Rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the square of the conc of the drug
What is a third order reaction?
Where Rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the cube of the conc of the drug
What is a zero order reaction?
Where rate of diffusion is unrelated to the conc of the drug
What are the three compartments of the body?
Plasma
Interstitial
Intracellular
What are the 5 ways that a drug can move between compartments?
Simple diffusion Facilitated diffusion Active transport Extracellular spaces Non-ionic diffusion
What is the relationship between pH, and the ionisation of drugs?
When pH is increased- weak acids become more ionised, and weak bases become less ionised
and Vice Versa
What is pinocytosis?
A form of carrier mediated entry into the cytoplasm. Usually involved in the uptake of endogenous macro molecules.
What is bioavaiability?
Amount of drug taken up as a proportion of the amount administered
What route of administration gives the highest bioavailability?
Intravenous
List some routes of administration
Oral, IV, IM, Transcut, Intrathecal, sublingual, inhalation, topical, rectal
What can vary the bioavailability of oral medication?
Surface area of gut, pH of gut, stomach motility, diarrhoea etc.
Which route of administration works the fastest?
Intravenous
Why is it necessary for an oral drug to be lipid soluble?
To allow for it to be absorbed in the gut
What is volume of distribution?
The total amount of drug in the body/ the concentration of drug in the plasma
In which component are proteins/large molecules active?
Plasma
In which component are water soluble molecules active?
Plasma and interstitial compartment
In which component are lipid soluble molecules active?
Intracellular fluid
What is clearance?
The volume of plasma that can be completely cleared of drug per unit time
What is kidney clearance?
rate of appearance in urine/ plasma concentration
What substance is used as a marker in the kidneys?
Creatinine
What is renal blood flow?
1l/min
What properties would make a drug more likely to be eliminated by the kidney?
Water soluble and small molecules
What is hepatic extraction ratio?
The proportion of a drug that can be removed by one passage through the liver
What is high first pass metabolism?
A high hepatic extraction ratio, meaning that a high proportion is removed by one passage through the liver
What is the function of phase I reactions?
To make drugs more reactive = expose OH or other reactive sites
What enzyme is used in phase I reactions?
Cytochrome P450 enzymes
Give some examples of phase I reactions
Hydroxylation, delalkylation, deamination, hydrogen removal, reduction, hydrolysis
What is the aim of phase II reactions?
Glucuronidation= Make the molecule hydrophillic
What enzyme is used in phase II reactions?
Glucuronosyltransferase (UGT)
What is enterohepatic circulation?
When some drug from the bile rediffuses from the gut back into the blood, and is then reconjugated
Why are IV infusions used?
Enable steady state plasma Enables accurate drug delivery Fast 100% Bioavailability Useful if oral medication isn't possible
When does steady state normally occur?
4-5 half lives
How do you calculate loading dose?
Loading dose = steady state x volume of distribution
How do you calculate rate of elimination during a steady state?
Clearance x drug conc between peaks and troughs
How do you calculate steady state?
Rate of infusion/ Clearance
How is insulin administered?
Sub cutaneously
What is the oral bioavailability of morphine?
50%= due to first pass metabolism of the liver
What percentage of the population cannot metabolism morphine?
10%
Name some naturally occurring opioids
Morphine, Codeine
Name some synthetic opioids
Pethidine, fentanyl, alfentanil
Name an opioid antagonist
Nalaxone
How do opioids work?
Opioids block the descending pain transmission
They use the natural opioid receptors (G proteins) and inhibit the release of pain transmitters at the spinal cord and midbrain, and modulate pain perception in higher centres
What are the opioid receptors?
MOP, KOP, DOP, NOP
Where are opioid receptors found?
Midbrain, spine, GI tract, and breathing centre
What is dependence?
Psychological (craving of euphoria) and physical dependence
What are some side effects of opioids?
Respiratory depression, Sedation, Nausea and vomiting, Constipation, Itching. Immune suppression, Endocrine effects
How do you treat opioid induced respiratory depression?
Airways, breathing, circulation
IV Naloxone and titrate to effect
List some local anaesthetics
lidocaine and procaine
How do local anaethetics work?
Local anesthetics block the conduction of the nerve by blocking Na+ channels thereby preventing the depolarisation of the nerve and the propagation of the action potential
Why do patients often get constipated with opioid use?
Opioid receptors are located in the GI tract
How long does opioid withdrawal take?
It begins at 24 hrs and lasts about 72 hrs
Which branch of the nervous system is voluntary and what neurotransmitter(s) does it use?
Somatic
Uses acetyl choline
Which branch of the nervous system is involuntary and what neurotransmitter(s) does it use?
Autonomic
Uses Ach and noradrenaline
What are the two branches of the autonomic nervous system?
Parasympathetic and sympathetic
Is the post-synaptic ganglion closer to the spinal cord in the sympathetic or the parasympathetic system?
Sympathetic= Ganglion lies closer to the spinal cord Parasympathetic= Ganglion lies closer to the effector organ