Essential Pharmacology 2 Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Essential Pharmacology 2 Deck (22)
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1
Q

What is pharmacology?

A

The study of the effect of drugs on living systems

2
Q

What is a drug?

A

Any chemical agent that affects a biological system

3
Q

What are some sources of drugs?

A

Plants

Synthetic drugs

Biotechnology to make therapeutic agents using living systems

Gene therapy to introduce new DNA

4
Q

How do drugs act?

A

By interacting with the binding site of a receptor

5
Q

What is the relationship between drug concentration and the size of the response?

A

Low drug concentrations produces a small response and high drug concentration produces a large response, this is due to more receptors being activated

6
Q

When do receptors become saturdated?

A

When all of them are binded so no increase in drug concentration could produce a larger response

7
Q

Why does the response become slower as receptors near saturation?

A

The probability of a drug bumping into a receptor is lower

8
Q

What does the log of [drug] against percentage of saturation look like?

A
9
Q

What is EC50?

A

Concentration of a drug that produces half of the maximum effect (quantifies affinity)

10
Q

What is affinity?

A

The strength of the chemical attraction between drug and receptor

11
Q

What does EC50 indicate about affinity?

A

A low EC50 indicates a high affinity

12
Q

Do drugs always fully activated a receptor?

A

No, they can be partly activated (such as partly opening a channel or partly activating an enzyme)

13
Q

What is efficacy?

A

How good the drug is at activating the receptor

14
Q

What does the efficacy indicate about the EC50 and the maximum response?

A

A lower efficacy has the same EC50 but a smaller maximum response

15
Q

What does the size of response from a drug depends on?

A

Drug affinity

Drug efficacy

16
Q

What is an agonist?

A

Mimics the normal effect of receptor

17
Q

What is an antagonist?

A

Blocks the normal effect of a receptor

18
Q

What is the affinity and efficacy of agonists?

A

High affinity

High efficacy

19
Q

What is the affinity and efficacy of an antagonist?

A

High affinity

Low efficacy

20
Q

How do tranmitters interact with different kinds of receptors?

A

Ome may act of several receptor subtypes, whereas selective transmitters only act on some of the subtypes

21
Q

What can selective agonists be used for?

A

Enhance a good effect

22
Q

What can selective antagonists be used for?

A

Blocking bad effects