Pharmacology Flashcards
(36 cards)
What is pharmacology?
What are some of its uses?
Study of drugs and how they interact with the body.
Used in diagnosing, curing and preventing disease.
What is pharmacodynamics?
What is pharmacokinetics?
What drug does to the body.
What body does to the drug.
What is a drug?
What is a placebo?
Different types of drug?
Drug contains an active substance that has a direct effect.
Placebo contains inactive substance and has no direct therapeutic effect. Unethical uses except in drug trials where patient aware of its uses.
Natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic drugs. One not better than other.
Describe Salicylic acid
Found in bark of willow tree. Had to be purified as dose unknown and many other ingredients. Purified was toxic and not effective. Modified acetyl Salicylic acid which is aspirin. Not toxic and more effective.
What is homeopathy?
Like cures like. To enhance activity of drug have to dilute it. Smaller doses are more effective.
Define efficacy?
How big max response is.
Define potency?
Dose needed to produce the desired response.
Define variability?
How many patients. will have the desired response
Define selectivity?
How well the drug binds to a molecular target or other target and vice versa.
Define safety?
How many patients have U/E.
Define bioavailability?
The proportion of drug dose administered that reaches the general circulation unchanged.
Define cost?
How much the drug costs.
What does it mean that body is an open system?
Means that drug transiently affects functions of a system.
What does CACs do?
Command and control molecules. Drugs chemically inert usually. Bind transiently to CAC as complementary shapes. Lock and key model.
What are different types of CAC?
Membrane receptors - neurotransmitters.
Ion channels - nerve impulses, local anaesthetics.
Enzymes - produce or degrade messenger molecules.
Nuclear receptors - control gene activation.
Plasma and tissue proteins also but no major physiological effects.
What are agonists?
Drugs that transiently bind to receptors and activate them. May be endogenous or drugs binding to receptors, e.g. insulin to insulin receptors or salbutamol to beta 2 adrenergic receptors. Affinity is how well they bind.
ED50 - how to plot it?
Plot it logarithmically then get a sigmoid relationship. If you have a low ED50 then a more potent drug, can do more with it. If curves are parallel then they are acting on the same receptors.
What is pharmacovigilance?
It is the detection, assessment, understanding and preventing ADR.
How to quantify safety?
Looking at TI. If wide TI then means patient taking the effective dose very unlikely to also get U/E. Narrow TI then more likely to get U/E. TI = TD50/ED50.
What does alpha 1, beta 1 and beta 2 adrenergic receptors do?
Increases blood pressure by constricting blood vessels.
Increases heart rate by increasing blood flow.
Increases bronchodilation by increasing oxygen.
How would you make agonist more selective for bronchodilation?
Add CH3 to increase selectivity for beta-adrenergic receptors.
What adrenaline binds to each receptor?
Noradrenaline for alpha 1, isoprenaline for beta 1 and 2. Salbutamol just for beta 2.
What are antagonists?
Give 2 examples
Drugs with affinity but no intrinsic activity.
Diabetes Mellitus - insulin is an antagonist
Schizophrenia dopamine excess - dopamine antagonist
Describe how competitive anatgonists work.
Reversible, no direct biologicla effect. Compete agonist for receptor space. More antagonist less likely to get agonist binding - not getting response agonist would catalyse.
