Unit 3 Flashcards
What are the main functions of the skin?
- Protection
- Thermoregulation
- Cutaneous sensation (touch)
- Excretion
- Absorption
- Vitamin D synthesis
What are the benefits of transdermal drug delivery?
This is a painless method which is useful for slow-release drugs or for poorly-soluble suspensions
* Bypass the digestive system
* Avoid first-pass metabolism
What are examples of drugs administered transdermally/topicaly?
- Nicotine (transdermal patches)
- Clotrimazole (anti-fungal medication)
- Lidocaine (local anaesthetic)
What are the two categories of the skeletal system and what do they consist of?
- Axial: This is the central core consisting of 80 bones including the skull, vertebrae, ribs and the sternum.
- Appendicular: this consists of 126 bones and includes the bones that make up the upper and lower limbs.
What are the five classification of bones?
- Long: Consists of a long shaft and includes the bones of the thigh, leg, arm & forearm.
- Short: Consists primarily of spongy bone including the bones of the wrist and ankle.
- Flat: These are thin and usually curved including the bones of the cranium.
- Irregular: These are primarily spongy bones covered with a thin layer of compact bone including the vertebrae and bones in the skull.
- Sesamoid: Develop in some tendons crossing the ends if long bones & includes the patella located at the knee.
What are the two circuits of the circulatory system and what are their functions?
- Pulmonary Circuit: Carries deoxygenated blood into the lungs, occurs before blood returns to the heart.
- Systematic Circuit: Delivers the oxygenated blood from the heart to the tissues before collecting deoxygenated blood & sends it to the heart with unused nutrients and metabolic waste products. These extra substances filter in the liver.
What is the function of the heart and what is contained within it?
It is a muscle which acts as a pump & contains 4 chambers:
* Atria (left and right): collects blood
* Ventricles (left and right): pumps blood out
Valves- prevent the back flow of blood
Muscular Septum- divides the heart in two sections where the right side pumps deoxygenated blood and the left side oxygenated blood.
What is cardiac output and how is it calculated?
This is the amount of blood per litre pumped out of the heart per minute (5.6L in male & 4.9L in female).
Heart Rate (HR) x Stroke Volume (SV).
What is stroke volume and how is it calculated?
This the amount of blood collected in the ventricles when at full capacity and about to contract. This varies depending on whether in rest or exercising.
What is the structure and function of the blood vessel artery?
Arteries: Transports blood towards the tissues and away from the heart & contain thick muscular walls which can withstand blood under high pressure.
What is the structure and function of veins?
Veins: Carrie blood away from the tissues and towards the heart. Contain blood under low pressure and valves to prevent the backwards flow of blood.
What is the structure and function of capillaries?
Capillaries: One-cell layer thick endothelial lining-tolerate blood under low pressure due to moving slower & gas exchange has a chance to take place. This is where the exchange of gases, water & waste products takes place as the walls are fenestrated. Cappiliries then collect into venules. Capilliries connect arterioles and venules.
What are the four major components of blood?
- Plasma: fluid that surrounds the blood cells and helps transport CO2, hormones & metabolic waste products.
- Red Blood Cells (erythrocytes): formed in the bone marrow and function as mainly O2 carriers.
- White Blood Cells (leukocytes): created in the bone marrow & make up the bodies immune system by producing antibodies & help destroy harmful microorganisms.
- Platelets: cells clumped together to form blood clots & help protect the body by preventing bleeding.
What forms the superior and inferior vena cava?
- Superior Vena Cava: The merging of the veins carrying blood from the head, neck, and upper limbs which travels towards the heart.
- Inferior Vena Cava: The merging of the veins from the legs, pelvic structures and abdomen traveling upwards.
Where does blood travel to from the left ventricle?
Blood moves into the aorta (supplying the head and arms) and back behind the heart, and then dropping down through the thorax and abdomen, suppling the organs.
Where does the blood move to from the superior and inferior vena cava?
The blood drains into the right atrium, then into the right ventricle, and to the lungs (via the pulmonary arteries).
Where does blood travel to from the lungs?
Blood travels back via the pulmonary veins, into the left atrium and then the left ventricle to travel around body again.
What are the two types of administration of drugs?
- Drugs may be absorbed directly into the systematic circulation via sublingual.
- Buccal administration is another method which provides a useful route for rapid absorption and action- particularly useful for nausea medication, painkillers, or drugs for acute symptoms such as those in angina.
What is the importance of rectal administration?
This is important in drug delivery, providing a better bioavailability than oral route as it avoids the stomach & also first pass metabolism. This method also reduces side-effects such as gastric irritation, nausea and vomiting.
What is the function of the hepatic portal system?
This is the route by which blood drains from the intestines via the mesenteric veins, into the splenic vein, before moving across towards the liver as the hepatic portal vein. Blood passes through the hepatocytes of the liver before draining into the hepatic veins & then returns to the systematic circulation.
What is the importance of the renal system?
It is important in the filtration and excretion of substances from the body and the urinary system for both excretion of drugs from the body and metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
What is the renal/ urinary system composed of and where do these components lie?
This system is composed of of the paired kidneys and ureters with a single urinary bladder and urethra, where the kidneys lie laterally to the vertebral column in the level of the T12-L3 vertebrae whereas the right kidney is lightly lower due to the larger size of the liver.
What does the Central Nervous System consist of & what is it protected by?
This consists of the brain and spinal cord which is surrounded and protected by the meninges, consisting of three layers (the dura matter, the arachnoid and the pia mater). It is also surrounded by the cerebrospinal fluid.
What is Blood-brain barrier (BBB) and what is its function?
This is the barrier between the CNS and the rest of the body which is important in protection and accessibility as the tightly-connected endothelial cells in the BBB ensure only substances capable of passing through the endothelial capillary cells, or which are actively transported can cross into the CNS.