Unit 1 - Pharmaceutical sciences Flashcards
The term pharmacology is derived from what two words?
What does each mean?
Pharmakon
- For a magical substance, poison, or treatment
Logos
- knowledge
What is pharmacology?
Science dealing with the fate of drugs in the body and their biological actions within the body.
What do mandrakes contain that caused them to be associated with superstition?
Mandrakes contain hallucinogenic or deliria inducing tropane alkaloids.
What does the poppy seed (the middle Eastern and Oriental versions) contain?
Opium –> morphine
What is opium used for?
At low doses, makes muscles relax.
Used for upset stomach and muscle strains.
Also abused a lot.
What is codeine used for?
Found in cough medicine.
What is the difference between codeine and morphine?
Morphine has a hydroxyl functional group, codeine has a methoxy group.
The rest is largely similar.
Which is better for pain relief: codeine or morphine?
Morphine
What is amanita muscaria?
What does it contain?
Magic mushrooms.
Generates muscarine.
How is muscarine extracted from A. muscaria?
Placed in water or alcohol to extract the compound.
What can muscarine induce?
Hallucinations
What was muscarine used for by pharmacologists?
Mapped receptors in muscles.
What are symptoms of muscarine?
Hallucinations
Muscle relaxation
Vomitting
Where do therapeutics/chemicals used in pharmacology produced from?
Natural compounds - minerals, fungi, plants, animals
Synthetic chemical compounds
What is a drug that comes from animals?
Insulin
Why are synthetics important?
Since the natural compound might be limited in the amount that can be extracted (see taxol) or the amount of plant (from which it is derived) may be isolated or few in numbers.
Essentially, lab synthesis enhances efficiency of production.
Are natural compounds always better?
No. A lot of things from plants are still toxic if not used correctly.
What is pharmacodynamics?
Study of how drugs act.
- Emphasis on mechanisms
What is pharmacokinetics?
Study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes drugs.
- Calculation of various rates to bring a quantitative component to assessing drug action
What is pharmacotherapeutics?
Use of drugs to treat disorders
- emphasis on clinical management
What is pharmacoepidemiology?
Effect of drugs on populations.
- Deals with genetics
What is pharmacoeconomics?
Study of cost-effectiveness of drug treatments.
Understanding how a drug works and how a different form will act is associated with what branch of pharmacology?
Pharmacodynamics.
How the body acts on a drug is related to what pharmacology discipline?
Pharmacokinetics.
What does the kinetics portion of pharmacokinetics refer to?
Moving through the body systems
What is an example drug that is very expensive?
AIDS drugs.
All drugs are _______, but not all _____ are drugs.
All drugs are ______, but not all _______ are drugs.
chemicals, chemicals
poisons, poisons
Why are all drugs poisons?
A drug, such as Tylenol, may be safe at low doses but, at high doses, the liver cannot detoxify it and thus becomes a poison.
Similarly, lots of poisons in nature are used as drugs.
What is botox used for?
What does it do?
Makes wrinkles disappear.
Deactivates nerve endings.
- stops muscles from moving, causing wrinkles to disappear
What is the definition of a drug?
Chemical compounds with biological (therapeutic) properties.
What are the four categories of drugs based on biological function?
Provide an example for each.
1 - Drugs with selective toxicity. (ex: penicillin)
2 - Drugs used to replace inadequacies of naturally occurring susbtances (ex: insulin)
3 - Drugs that change regulation [hormone related] (ex: birth control pills)
4 - Drugs that alter mood or behaviour (ex: alcohol)
Food and Drugs are often closely related but, food is not a drug. Why?
Food is also a chemical but, food tends to be ingested in large amounts and consistently.
Drugs on the other hand or generally ingested in lower doses and only used when needed.
How can drugs be classified based on their clinical purposes?
Provide an example for each.
1 - Curing illness (ex: infections, metabolic imbalances)
2 - Preventing diseases (ex: vaccines)
3 - Improving health/quality of life (ex: sleep better)
What are the different broad classes in which drugs can be classified?
By biological function and clinical purpose.
What are the different names drugs can have?
Generic name
Trivial name
Trade name
Chemical name
What is the generic name of a drug?
Common name used by all - ex: aspirin
What is the trivial name of a drug?
Common name that is less official than the generic name (ex: Acetylsalicylic acid)
What is the trade name of a drug?
Given name of drug by the pharmaceutical company (ex: Empirin)