What makes one drug more potent than another?

Question 1

Define potency?

Answer 1

How strong the effect of the drug is

Question 2

Why is it difficult to understand drug actions?

Answer 2

Because we don’t know WHY the drug is working and we don’t know WHY the pathology is there in the first place

Question 3

What is pharmacokinetics?

Answer 3

The science of drug efficacy (looks at drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination)

Question 4

What is potency determined by?

Answer 4

1. drug availability (how much of the drug gets to the desired destination)
2. drug affinity (how the drug binds to its receptor)
3. drug efficacy (how the drug effects the receptor)

Question 5

When trying to decide route of administration, what are some factors one would need to consider?

Answer 5

How the body metabolizes the drug, and how the body plans to eliminate the drug both counterbalance the effect of the drug to [slightly] reduce efficacy

Question 6

What are some routes of administration?

Answer 6

1. oral
2. intranasal
3. topical
4. sublingual
5. intrathecal

Question 7

What is bioavailability?

Answer 7

how much of the drug gets into the bloodstream (is dependent on the 4 pillars of pharmacokinetics)

Question 8

What is a side effect?

Answer 8

Any unwanted/unintentional effect of a drug

Question 9

What does enteral mean?

Answer 9

Anything going through the GI tract

Question 10

What does parenteral mean?

Answer 10

Everything that does not go through the GI tract

Question 11

Why is the route of administration different depending on the drug?

Answer 11

Because of the time which it stays in the body, and the amount of the drug diminishes necessarily after digestion has taken place, needs to be different depending on the kind of effect desired

Question 12

What is first pass metabolism?

Answer 12

When an enteral drug has to be metabolized then sent to the liver (all GI blood first - gets sent there before general circulation)

Question 13

What is the hepatic portal venus system?

Answer 13

blood vessels that run from the Gi tract to the liver

Question 14

What are the 5 transmembrane processes?

Answer 14

1. passive diffusion
2. filtration
3. active transport
4. passive transport
5. pino/phagocytosis

Question 15

What is passive diffusion?

Answer 15

When an uncharged particle passes through the phospholipid bilayer without the metabolic effort of the cell

Question 16

What is filtration?

Answer 16

Channels between proteins in the PLB

Question 17

What is active transport?

Answer 17

the body using energy to get the particle in, via the sodium potassium pump

Question 18

What is passive transport?

Answer 18

When no metabolic energy is required for the particle to pass through the PLB

Question 19

What is pino/phagocytosis?

Answer 19

When cell membrane pinches off to absorb something