General Principles and Drug Targets Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is pharmacology?
The study of how chemical agents affect the function of living systems
What are the key drug targets?
Receptors
Ion channels
Enzymes
Transporters
What does system pharmacology study?
Disease mechanisms and drug actions in different physiological systems (e.g., cardiovascular, CNS)
What is affinity?
The ability of a drug to bind its receptor
Define the dissociation constant (KD)?
The concentration of a drug required to occupy 50% of a receptor sites at equilibrium
What is the Law of Mass Action?
The rate of chemical reaction is proportional to the concentration of its reactants
How does the log does-occupy curve help in pharmacology?
It visualises receptor occupancy:
70% of the curve appears as a straight line, aiding analysis
Define specificity
A drug’s ability to selectively bind to one receptor wihtout affecting others
What is efficacy in drug action?
The ability of a drug-receptor complex to elicit a biological response
What is potency?
The biological effect relative to the drug dose
How do agonists differ from antagonists?
Agonists activate receptors
Antagonists block their activation without intrinsic effect
What is elimination half life?
The time required for a drug concentration to decrease to half of its initial amount in the body
Name two common drug-binding study methods
Radioligand assays
Surface Plasmon Resonance
How are binding sites conducted?
Using purified protein targets or cell lines overexpressing the receptor of interest
