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)
What is the chemical name of a drug?
Systematized and standardized nomenclature (ex: 2-acetoxybenzoic acid)
A dosage form is a “______ _____ (the way of identifying) of the drug and used to allow for an _________ _______ of the drug (the active compound) to the patient.
physical form
effective delivery
What is a dosage form?
Physical form of the drug and used to allow for effective delivery of the drug to the patient.
What is referred to for effective delivery?
Delivery is important in the sense that it refers to accuracy in dose and stability so the patient can transport it.
The dosage form is kept in its most active and stable form.
In a dosage form, there is a mixture of substances. These are?
1 - Active drug component(s)
2 - Non-drug component(s)
What are active drug components?
Compounds used with the intention to provide biological effect(s)
Can be a single compound or multiple compounds
What are the non-drug components? What do they provide?
Compounds used with the intention to provide:
1 - Stability
2 - Desirable colour(s)/form(s)
3 - Necessary characteristics to deliver the active compound(s)
Dosage form:
- _______ form that you identify with the drug, makes ______ as _______ as possible
physical
delivery
effective
Dosage forms of drugs are:
1 - ________ appearance of the drug product
2 - Physical form of the drug product prior to _______ to the patient
3 - The way the product is ________ (_____ and frequency)
4 - How pharmacists and other health professionals might recognize and handle the product
Physical
dispensing
administered - route
Why is a pill given more often than liquid as a dosage form?
Easy to prescribe:
- easier to measure
- easier for the patient to take
What is the easiest, most common and most acceptable route of administration?
By ingestion
What was one of the first drugs ever identified?
Alcohol
What is a route of administration?
The way that a drug is introduced into the body
What are the two most common routes of drug administration?
Oral ingestion Injection - intravenous - subcutaneous - intramuscular
Which injection type acts the quickest? Why?
IV - injected directly into the bloodstream, immediately distributed throughout the body
What are other factors to consider when choosing a route of administration?
M PPO TSM
M PPO TSM
Molecular properties of the drug Physiological nature of the route Patient compliance Onset of action The condition being treated Systemic or local effect (side effects) Metabolism
Describe how the property of the drug will affect the route of administration.
If the drug cannot be dissolved in water, intravenous is not a good idea.
- might block circulation and cause an issue
Why would the physiological nature of the route be a factor to consider when choosing a route of administration?
ex: patient is frail or cold, hard to see blood vessels
- may not be appropriate to use IV
What is compliance?
Willingness of the patient to stick to the assigned regimen
Why is compliance important for the route of administration?
ex: patient compliance in finishing prescription
Why is the onset of action important to consider for the route of administration?
ex: emergency? –> need to use IV, quickest effect
- use intramuscular (lots of blood vessels associated) for allergies
Why is the epipen intramuscular rather than IV?
Because it is hard to perform an IV if not trained and their are lots of blood vessels associated with muscles.
Why is the condition being treated important when considering the route of administration?
The condition being treated will dictate what form of the drug is needed
How do systemic/local effects play into routes of administration?
If something is small and restricted, a local acting drug may be better.
If a cut gets really bad, will need a more systemic drug.
Why do side effects occur?
Blood flows everywhere, sometimes, the side effect can occur in another part of the body
Why is metabolism important to consider for routes of administration?
May have impaired kidney/liver function making a drug much more toxic than usual
What are the different major routes of drug administration?
Enteral administration
Parenteral administration
What is enteral administration?
Absorption from GI tract
Oral ingestion
What is parenteral administration?
IV
intramuscular
subcutaneous
What are the other administration routes?
Sublingual Transdermal Rectal Pulmonary Topical
What is the difference between transdermal and topical administration routes?
Transdermal - application location is different from site of action
Topical - site of action is the same as site of administration
Why is sublingual effective or even used?
Lots of blood vessels below the tongue.
Certain types of drugs can pass the membrane quickly
What is an example drug that uses the sublingual route?
Nitroglycerin
Why is the rectal route used?
Membrane soft, lots of vasculature.
Used especially for vomitting patients or those unconscious.
The enteral administration is the most ______ method of administration.
common
What are the dosage forms of enteral administration?
Capsule, tablet, solution, elixir syrup
What are the advantages of Enteral administration:
Safest, most convenient, and most economical method.
What are the disadvantages of enteral administration?
- Limited absorption for lipid soluble drugs
- Emesis for certain drugs (irritation)
- Drug can be destroyed by low pH, presence of food or other drug
What is the difference between a syrup and elixir?
Syrup - thick and sweet - tends to have a substance to make it sweet
Elixir - Oftentimes extract with alcohol, tends to be bitter
- don’t see as much
What is the dosage form of parenteral administration?
Injections
What are the advantages of parenteral administration?
- Drug delivered in active form
- rapid, extensive, predictable
- effective dose can be delivered more effective in emergency cases
What are the disadvantages of the parenteral route?
- Asepsis must be maintained
- Pain
- Need some training to administer
What is the subcutaneous layer?
Fat and connective tissue
The majority of vaccines tend to be of what type? Why?
Subcutaneous and intramuscular
This is because we want the antigen to release slowly.
Oftentimes resides there for a while, doesn’t circulate and get cleared, allows the body to develop immunity.
What is the intraosseous route?
Bone marrow - parenteral
What is the dosage form of the sublingual route?
Tablets - orally disintegrating or orodispersable tablets
What are the suitable drug properties of a sublingual drug?
Lipid soluble and high P value
Transdermal goes through ______ skin
intact
What are the dosage forms of transdermal administration?
Cream, pasted, controlled-release topical patches
What is the dosage form of the rectal route?
Suppository
When is a suppository used (what kind of patient)?
Unconscious or vomiting patients
What are the dosage forms of the pulmonary route?
Aerosol, volatile liquids, gases
What are the different areas in which topical treatment can be used?
Conjunctiva, nasopharynx, oropharynx, vagina, urethra, urinary bladder, ear, nose, anal canal
What are the dosage forms of topical treatments?
Ointment, cream, drops, jelly, powder, tablet, suppository, pessary
Why aren’t all drugs delivered through the pulmonary route?
Physical or chemical property of the active compound can limit its effectiveness:
- not all drugs can pass membrane or dissolve easily
(needs to be an aerosol or fine powder for this)
Why are the lungs a good administration route?
lots of space and vasculature
Where does a pessary go?
Into the vagina
Why is injection into the bone marrow also a quick route of administration?
The cell membrane there is very porous
What is the endotracheal route?
Into trachea, gets into the lungs
