Lecture 2 - Drugs: What You Need To Know And Why Flashcards
Define pharmacodynamics
What drugs do to the body
Define pharmacokinetics
What the body does to drugs
What are drug targets
Largely regulatory proteins, although can be exceptions (e.g. targeting of DNA by some anti tumour drugs)
Examples are: receptors, ion channels, enzymes, carrier molecules
How do drugs elicit a therapeutic effect?
Targeted interaction, normalisation and disease management
How do drugs elicit a desired effect?
The beneficial outcomes that drugs are intended to produce e.g. pain reliever ibuprofen reduces pain and inflammation
How do drugs elicit a adverse effect?
i.e. side effects - they are unintended and potentially harmful
How do drugs elicit a toxic effect?
occurs when a drug produces harmful effects often due to excessive dosage or accumulation in body
Describe the processes and phases in drug discovery and development
typically involves:
- Early Drug Discovery, Pre-Clinical Phase, Clinical Phases, and Regulatory Approval
types of receptors:
ligand-gated ion channels
G protein-coupled receptors
catalytic receptors
nuclear receptors
ligand-gated ion channels
Ligand binding induces conformational change allowing movement of ions through pore, rapid, e.g. nicotinic acetylcholine receptor
G protein-coupled receptors
Transmembrane proteins, receptor activation elicits a conformational changes causing cascade of reactions, intermediate, e.g. muscarinic acetylcholine receptor
catalytic receptors
Ligand binding leads to receptor dimerisation and phosphorylation of specific residues on receptor – alters the enzymatic activity of receptor, hours, e.g. growth factors
nuclear receptors
Ligand-activated transcription factors that can enhance or repress gene transcription, hours, e.g. steroid hormones
how can receptors work as amplifiers?
Secondary messengers are able to amplify signs and direct signals to specific cellular locations. Second messenger concentration and localisation need to be tightly regulated.
