Theme 2: How drug effects change over time

Question 1

drug tolerance

Answer 1

the decreased effectiveness (or potency) or a drug that results from repeated admin.; or the necessity of increasing doses in order to maintain its effectiveness after repeated admin.

Question 2

we develop tolerance to drug ___ at different rates

Answer 2

effects

Question 3

we should think of tolerance to the ____ not to the ___ itself

Answer 3

drug effect; drug

Question 4

acute tolerance

Answer 4

tolerance developed during a single admin; drug effect may be great during the absorption phase as compared to the elimination phase even if it’s the same blood level; on a graph, the drug effect curve is shifted left from the blood level curve

Question 5

cross-tolerance

Answer 5

tolerance to one drug diminishing the effect of another drug (Eg. different opioids)

Question 6

pharmacokinetic/ metabolic tolerance

Answer 6

an increase in the rate or ability of the body to metabolize a drug, resulting in fewer drug molecules reaching their sites of action; mostly enzyme induction (more of the enzyme that destroys the drug); tolerance for all effects because the drug concentration is diminished; cross-tolerance with drugs that may be metabolized by the same enzyme

Question 7

cellular or pharmacodynamic tolerance

Answer 7

rises from adjustments made by the body to compensate for an effect of the continued presence of a drug (to maintain homeostasis); compensatory processes

Question 8

upregulation

Answer 8

if a drug block a receptor, cellular tolerance may be developed by creating more receptors

Question 9

for tolerance to occur, the drug effect needs to have ….

Answer 9

some significance to the animal/ disruption to functioning; drug effect puts a demand on an organism’s homeostatic mechanisms

Question 10

behavioural tolerance

Answer 10

through experience with a drug, an organism can learn to decrease the effect that the drug is having.

Question 11

withdrawal symptoms

Answer 11

physiological changes that occur when the use of a drug is stopped or the dosage is decreased

Question 12

dependence

Answer 12

a state in which withdrawal symptoms will occur when the drug use stops; does not imply anything about compulsive drug use, abuse, or addiction

Question 13

withdrawal symptoms are often expressions of the _____

Answer 13

compensatory adjustments (mechanisms)

Question 14

withdrawal symptoms from a single admin is process _ without any process _

Answer 14

B; A (also known as a hangover)

Question 15

how can opponent process theory explain acute tolerance?

Answer 15

during the absorption phase, process B hasn’t kicked in so the drug effect is strong; during the excretion phase, process B is full blown, which lowers the impact of process A, causing reduced feeling of drug effect (explains difference in drug effect at two points of same blood level)

Question 16

withdrawal is worse after prolonged drug use because…

Answer 16

compensatory response builds up

Question 17

prolonged use causes process B to get ____ and kick in ____

Answer 17

strong; sooner

Question 18

what is the compensatory response to a tranquilizer

Answer 18

anxiety

Question 19

is there a strong correlation between tolerance and withdrawal?

Answer 19

no; many people show high tolerance but no withdrawal symptoms (eg. alcohol)

Question 20

what are some reasons someone with tolerance may not experience withdrawal?

Answer 20

(1) may be a behavioural tolerance, so there wouldn’t be physiological compensatory responses, (2) rate of elimination may be very slow (ie. THC); allows for body to adjust

Question 21

conditioned compensatory response

Answer 21

the conditioned drug effect will also be opposite (B) to the initial drug effect (A)

Question 22

if a rat is given saline and a paw lick test in an environment that is associated with repeated injections of morphine, what will be the response? why?

Answer 22

even shorter latencies/ hyperalgesia; conditioned compensatory response

Question 23

classicaly conditioned withdrawal

Answer 23

if placed in room associated with repeated drug admin. but no drug is given, compensatory processes kick in causing withdrawal effects… dangerous because it may lead to relapse if a user goes back to the place of frequent admin. (cause cravings)

Question 24

operant conditioning of drug effects

Answer 24

learning to compensate for drug effects in order to obtain rewards (eg. waiting to respond on DRL schedule while on amphetamine)

Question 25

sensitization/ reverse tolerance

Answer 25

effect of a drug increasing with repeated admin. (much less common than tolerance)

Question 26

what brain system gets sensitized?

Answer 26

mesolimbic dopamine system

Question 27

expectation mechanism

Answer 27

a top-down pain-relieving pathway activated by the expectation of such drugs

Question 28

predisposition theories

Answer 28

people either are born with the disease or acquire it at some time before they begin abusing the drug. This disease predisposes certain people to become addicts whenever they start using the drug

Question 29

exposure theories

Answer 29

addiction is a disease that is caused by repeated exposure to the drug

Question 30

types of disease theories

Answer 30

predisposition and exposure

Question 31

is addiction a disease?

Answer 31

depends how you define disease

Question 32

using to avoid withdrawal symptoms is what type of operant conditioning?

Answer 32

negative reinforcement

Question 33

dependence model

Answer 33

dependence is the state in which a drug produces physiological dependence (withdrawal if stopped) AND compulsive self-admin

belief that withdrawal symptoms are so painful and distressing that dependent individuals are willing to sacrifice almost anything to avoid having to go through withdrawal and that addicts crave the drug because it will prevent the withdrawal.

Question 34

problem with the dependence model

Answer 34

it is possible to have an addiction in the absence of dependence (eg. weed or cocaine which have little withdrawal and therefore little power to cause dependence) and to have dependence without addiction (eg. depend on pain pain relievers but not show addictive beh)

Question 35

Factors That Alter the Reinforcing Value of a Drug

Answer 35

(1) different drugs, (2) dose of drug, (3) breeding and strain differences, (4) relief of unpleasant symptoms, (5) task demands, (6) stress, (7) deprivations and motivations, (8) previous experience with other drugs, (9) previous experience with the same drug, (10) withdrawal symptoms, (11) extended access, (12) priming or reinstatement, (13) conditioned reinforcement, (14) second-order schedules

Question 36

incentive

Answer 36

this attraction to a specific stimulus

Question 37

mesolimbic dopamine system

Answer 37

VTA -> nucleus accumbens

reinforcement, motivation and reward seeking

Question 38

the nucleus accumbens usually inhibits the motor system, unless…

Answer 38

DA is released; inhibits the inhibitory (aka activates)

Question 39

stimuli associated with reinforcement are said to have acquired _____

Answer 39

incentive salience