Psychopharmacology Flashcards
Barbiturates
No longer used
Modulate GABAA channel
Benzodiazepines
Diazepam, temazepam
Facilitate GABAA
Anxiolytic
Buspirone
High affinity for 5-HT1 reduces serotonin release
Anxiolytic
Beta blockers used for
Anxiety
Why do SSRIs treat anxiety?
Decrease sensitivity of the 5-HT receptors
Pharmacology of mood stabilisers like lithium?
Disrupts PI cycle - inhibition of inositol monophosphatase
What drugs make psychosis worse?
DA enhancing drugs (eg. amphetamine) exacerbate psychosis
1st gen antipsychotic action
Block D2 receptor causing an antipsychotic effect
Antipsychotic 1st gen drugs
Haloperidol Chlorpromazine
Adverse effects of Dopamine antipsychotics
Adverse effects: Increased prolactin, parkinsonian-like motor deficits, increased weight gain, tardive dyskinesia.
Second gen antipsychotic drugs
Clozapine risperidone aripiprazole
Opiate action
Inhibits adenylate cyclase and reduces cAMP levels
Amphetamine
Norepinephrine-dopamine releasing agent (NDRA)
Cocaine
Combined reuptake inhibitor of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
Caffeine
Antagonist of adenosine A2A receptors
PDE inhibitor
Caffeine wakefulness effect
Antagonism of A2A receptors in the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) reduces inhibitory GABA neurotransmission to the tuberomammillary nucleus, a histaminergic projection nucleus that activation-dependently promotes arousal.
Psychotomimetics
LSD, mescaline, psilocybin (mushrooms)
Serotonin agonists?
THC
Partial agonist activity at the cannabinoid receptor CB1, located mainly in the central nervous system, and the CB2 receptor, mainly expressed in cells of the immune system.
Activation of cannabinoid receptors - decrease in the concentration of the second messenger molecule cAMP through inhibition of adenylate cyclase.
Ketamine
Antagonism of the NMDA receptor is responsible for the anesthetic, analgesic, and psychotomimetic effects of ketamine
