Chapter 1

Question 1

Pharmacology

Answer 1

The scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on a living organism.

Question 2

Neuropharmacology

Answer 2

Concerned with drug-induced changes in mood, thinking and behavior.

Question 3

Goal of neuropsychopharmacology

Answer 3

To identify chemical substances that act on the nervous system to alter behavior that is disturbed because of injury, disease or environmental factors.

Question 4

Drug Action

Answer 4

the specific molecular changes produced by a drug when it binds to a particular target site or receptor

Question 5

Drug effects

Answer 5

Molecular changes that lead to more widespread alterations in physiological or psychological functions

Question 6

Therapeutic effects

Answer 6

the drug-receptor interaction produces desired physical or behavioral changes. All other effects produced are referred to as side effects.

Question 7

Specific drug effects

Answer 7

those based on the physical and biochemical interactions of a drug with a target site in living tissue

Question 8

Non specific drug effects

Answer 8

those that are based not on the chemical activity of a drug-receptor interaction, but on certain unique characteristics of the individual.

Question 9

Placebo Effect

Answer 9

A pharmacologically inert compound administered to an individual; however in many instances it has not only therapeutic effects, but side effects as well.

Question 10

Nocebo Effect

Answer 10

Expecting treatment failure when an inert substance is given along with verbal suggestions of negative outcomes, such as increased pain or another aversive event, would increase anxiety as well as causing an accompanying change in neural mechanisms, including increases in stress hormones.

Question 11

double-blind experiment

Answer 11

neither the patient nor the observer knows what treatment the participant has received.

Question 12

bioavailability

Answer 12

the amount of drug in the blood that is free to bind at specific target sites

Question 13

pharmacokinetic

Answer 13

(1) route of administration
(2) absorption and distribution
(3) binding
(4) inactivation
(5) excretion

Question 14

Routes of administration

Answer 14

How and where a drug is administered determines how quickly and how completely the drug is absorbed into the blood

Question 15

Absorption and distribution

Answer 15

Because a drug rarely acts where it initially contacts the body, it must pass through a variety of cell membranes and enter the blood plasma, which transports the drug to virtually all of the cells in the body.

Question 16

Binding

Answer 16

Once in the blood plasma, some drug molecules move to tissues to bind to active target sites (receptors). While in the blood, a drug may also bind (depot binding) to plasma proteins or may be stored temporarily in bone or fat, where it is inactive.

Question 17

Inactivation

Answer 17

Occurs primarily as a result of metabolic processes in the liver as well as other organs and tissues

Question 18

Excretion

Answer 18

The liver metabolites are eliminated from the body with the urine or feces. Some drugs are excreted in an unaltered form by the kidneys.

Question 19

Enteral methods

Answer 19

Use the GI tract

Question 20

Parenteral

Answer 20

those that do not include the use of the alimentary canal, such as injection, pulmonary, and topical

Question 21

First pass metabolism

Answer 21

potentially harmful chemicals and toxins that are ingested pass via the portal vein to the liver, where they are chemically altered by a variety of enzymes before passing to the heart for circulation throughout the body

Question 22

Absorption

Answer 22

movement of the drug from the site of administration to the blood circulation

Question 23

gene therapy

Answer 23

the application of DNA which encodes a specific protein, to a particular target site.

Question 24

Phospolipids

Answer 24

complex lipid (fat) molecules that make up cell membranes

Question 25

Passive diffusion

Answer 25

Drugs with high lipid solubility move through the cell membranes by passive diffusion, leaving the water in the blood or stomach juices and entering the lipid layers of membranes.

Question 26

Concentration gradient

Answer 26

The larger the concentration difference on each side of the membrane, the more rapid is the diffusion.

Question 27

Bioactivation

Answer 27

A drug that is dependent on metabolism to convert an inactive drug to an active one.

Question 28

Receptor agonists

Answer 28

Lock and key suggests that only a limited group of neurochemicals or drugs can bind to a particular receptor protein to initiate a cellular response

Question 29

Affinity

Answer 29

best chemical fit

Question 30

Receptor antagonists

Answer 30

not only do they produce no cellular effect after binding, but by binding to the receptor, they prevent an "active" ligand from binding; hence they "block" the receptor

Question 31

Partial agonists

Answer 31

demonstrate efficacy that is less than that of full agonists but more than that of an antagonist at a given receptor

Question 32

Inverse agonists

Answer 32

when they bind to a receptor, they initiate a biological action, but it is an action that is opposite to that produced by an agonist.

Question 33

Dose-response curve

Answer 33

Describes the extent of biological or behavioral effect produced by a given drug concentration.

Question 34

Potency

Answer 34

The absolute amount of drug necessary to produce a specific effect.

Question 35

therapeutic index

Answer 35

calculated by comparing the dose of drug required to produce a toxic effect in 50% of individuals with the dose that is effective for 50%.

Question 36

Competitive antagonists

Answer 36

Those drugs that compete with agonists to bind to receptors but fail to initiate an intracellular effect, thereby reducing the effects of the agonists.

Question 37

Noncompetitive antagonists

Answer 37

drugs that reduce the effects of agonists in ways other than competing for the receptor

Question 38

Physiological antagonism

Answer 38

involves two drugs that act in two distinct ways but interact in such a way that they reduce each other's effectiveness in the body

Question 39

additive effects

Answer 39

outcome of both meds exceeds the effect of either drug alone

Question 40

potentiation

Answer 40

situation in which the combination of two drugs produces the effects that are greater than the sum of their individual effects

Question 41

tolerance

Answer 41

diminished response to drug administration after repeated exposure to that drug

Question 42

cross-tolerance

Answer 42

development of tolerance to one drug can diminish the effectiveness of a second drug

Question 43

Acute tolerance

Answer 43

tolerance develops during just a single administration

Question 44

Pharmacodynamic tolerance

Answer 44

occurs when changes in never cell function compensate for continued presence of the drug

Question 45

Operant conditioning

Answer 45

the appearance of tolerance to a psychoactive drug

Question 46

Sensitization

Answer 46

the enhancement of particular drug effects after repeated administration of the same dose of the drug