Week 8 Lecture Flashcards
What is psychopharmacology?
The study of drug induced changes in mood, thinking and behaviour
Where is the work pharmacology derived from?
the greek word Pharmakon, which means ‘drug’.
What is a drug?
exogenous (external) chemical not necessary for normal cellular functioning which alters the activity of certain cells of the body.
What are drugs that alter mood separated into?
stimulants, depressants, or hallucinogen
What are anxiolytics?
Drugs used to reduce anxious feelings
What are antidepressant drugs?
alleviate negative feelings typical of depressive symptoms
What are antipsychotic drugs?
Used to treat severe forms of psychotic behaviour, such as hallucinations and delusions
What do we define psychopharmacology as today?
the study of the effects of drugs on the nervous system and on behaviour
Where did psychopharmacology originate?
In the early 19th century with recreational and organis drugs as medicines
In the early 19th century, which drugs were freely accessible?
tea, opium, coffee, alcohol
In the later part of the 19th century, which drugs were synthesise to be used for mental health?
morphine and chloral hydrate
When was the first antipsychotic drugs developed and what was it?
chlorpromazine, and in the 1950’s.
What is pharmacokinetics?
The process by which drugs are absorbed, distributed in the body, metabolised and excreted.
What is drug effectiveness?
Relates to the ability of a drug to readily produce certain physiological and behavioural effects
What are the effects of repeated administration?
tolerance and sensitisation
Define placebo effects?
an inert substance is given to an organism in lieu of a physiologically active drug
What does drug absorption refer to?
the mechanisms by which drugs get into the blood stream and distributed throughout the body
In psychopharmacology, what are we particularly interested in?
how a drug gets into the brain, and how much (i.e how easily is passes from blood to neural tissues)
How does a drug typically get into the central nervous system?
typically, through the blood stream
What are some routes of administration?
-oral
-nasal
-inhalation
-rectal
etc
What is the blood brain barrier for?
only for water soluble molecules
Molecules that are soluble in lipids (fats) and not water have what effect on the blood brain barrier?
Pass through with ease.
What is one way that drugs can cross the blood brain barrier to do with the water soluble molecules?
- Passive movement of water soluble agents across the BBB is negligible because of the tight junctions between endothelial cells
What is one way that drugs can cross the blood brain barrier to do with the lipids?
- small, lipid soluble agents such as antidepressants cross the BBB via diffusion through endothelial cells
What is the best way to measure the effectiveness of a drug?
To plot a dose response curve
What does asymptote mean in relation to the drug response curve?
The greatest effect of the drug?
What happens to the effects of a drug if it is administered repeatedly?
Its effects will not remain constant
What is tolerance in regard to drug effects?
A decrease in the effectiveness of a drug that is administered repeatedly
What is sensitisation?
An increase in the effectiveness of a drug that is administered repeatedly.
What is contingent drug tolerance?
tolerance develops only to drug effects that are actually experienced contingent to a given behaviour.
What is conditioned drug tolerance?
refers to where tolerance effects are maximally expressed only when a drug is administered in the same situation in which it has been administered.
Because there are withdrawal effects frequently opposite to the initial effects of the drug, what does this suggest in regard to withdrawal effects?
They may be connected at a biological level with the changes that produce drug tolerance.
What are long term effects of opioid withdrawls?
diarrhoea, dilated pupils, vomiting
Where does the word placebo come from?
the Latin word placere, meaning “pleasure” or “to please”.
Are there neurological effects of a placebo?
yes
What is an antagonist drug?
a drug that opposes or inhibits the effects of a particular neurotransmitter on the post synaptic cell
What is an agonist drug?
a drug that facilitates the effects of a particular neurotransmitter on the postsynaptic cell.
Who discovered the first neurotransmitter and when?
Otto Loewi in the 1920’s
About how many substances have been identified as neurotransmitters?
About 50
What are neuromodulators?
Modulate the effects of neurotransmitter but they themselves are not neurotransmitter
What are the key properties which qualify something to be a neurotransmitter? (4)
- stored in the neuron
- released into the synapse
- causes an effect
- degradation and reuptake
What was the first neurotransmitter ever discovered?
acetlycholine
What is acetylcholine primarily involved in?
motor movement
Spiders use toxins to intefer with acetylcholine to do what?
produce paralysis
What is acetylcholine’s role in memory?
alzheimer’s disease involves a degradation in acetylcholine neurons
What are the 2 receptors that acetlycholine interacts with?
nicotine
muscarine
What are biogenic amines?
important neurotransmitter in the brain
What are the 5 established biogenic amine neurotransmitters?
- norepinephrine
- epinephrine
- dopamine
- histamine
- serotonin
they are all catecholamines
What is norepinephrine?
distributed throughout central and peripheral nervous systems
What is norepinephrine primarily responsible for?
maintaining cortical arousal
regulating organs
What is norepinephrine involved in controlling? (3)
attention
emotion
eating
adrenaline and noradrenaline interact with:
both alpha and beta
What are norepinephrine activity linked to?
depression
attention deficit disorders
Where is dopamine located?
forebrain pathways which originate in the brain stem
Deficiencies in dopamine in the nigrostriatal pathway results in what?
Parkinson’s disease
Dopamine is heavily involved in what pathway?
the reward pathway
What are the 2 different family of dopamine?
D1 like receptor family
D2 like receptor family
What is serotonin distributed throuout?
brain and spinal chord
What is serotonin involved in the control of? (4)
sleep/wake cycle
mood
impulsive behaviour
appetite
What disorders have serotonin been involved in? (5)
sleep disorders aggression obesity anorexia depression
Serotonin drugs are important for the treatment in what?
depression
What are 4 forms of serotonin drugs to block reuptake and help depression?
prozac
zoloft
luvox
paxil
What are amino acid transmitters?
provides most of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the nervous system.
What are 2 main amino acid transmitters?
glutamate (excitatory)
GABA (inhibitory)
What are the 2 main categories of glutamate receptors?
ionotropic
metabotropic
What is the elevated plus maze?
a rodent model of anxiety
dopamine release is observed where?
in the nucleus accumbens
What has an indirect, modulatory effect on the brain, potentiating the actions of GABA?
ethanol (alcohol)
Nicotine activates what? (2)
- nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the VTA region, increasing dopamine cell firing
- opioid peptide release
What do cannabinoids reinforce the effects of?
tetrahydrocannabinol
the acute reinforcing effects of THC involve the activation of what?
dopamine system
MDMA (ecstasy) enhances what?
empathy and close relations
What properties does MDMA have?
stimulant and hallucinogenic properties
