pharmacology

• What is pharmacology the study of?

  Effects of chemical substances on living systems
• What does pharmacology deal with?

  Mechanism of action, uses, and adverse effects of drugs
• How do drugs modify processes in health and disease?

  By altering biochemical, physiological, and psychological processes
• What knowledge is required for pharmacology?

  Understanding of normal body functions and disturbances
• What is a drug defined as?

  A chemical that affects physiological function
• On what do drugs generally act?

  Target proteins known as receptors
• What are the types of target proteins for drugs?

  Enzymes, carriers, ion channels, receptors
• What does specificity in drug action refer to?

  Specific drug binds to specific target
• Why do drugs have side effects?

  No drugs are completely specific
• What are the two stages of drug-receptor interactions?

  Binding and activation

  
• What defines an agonist in drug-receptor interactions?

  Binding and activation lead to tissue response

  
• What defines an antagonist in drug-receptor interactions?

  Binding only, with no tissue response

  
• What does affinity refer to in drug-receptor interactions?

  Ability of drug to bind to receptor
• What does efficacy refer to in drug-receptor interactions?

  Ability of drug to activate receptor
• What is the difference between full agonists and partial agonists?

  Full agonists produce maximal tissue response
• What is the role of an antagonist in drug interactions?

  Prevents agonist from binding to receptor

  
• What happens to the dose-response curve with competitive antagonism?

  Shifts to the right without changing slope
• What is a surmountable competitive antagonist?

  Antagonist inhibition reversed by increasing agonist concentration
• What is the summary of agonists, antagonists, and efficacy?

  • Agonists initiate changes in cell function
  • Antagonists bind without initiating effects
  • Agonist potency depends on affinity and efficacy
  • Antagonists have zero efficacy
  • Full agonists have high efficacy
  • Partial agonists have intermediate efficacy

  
• What are the types of receptors mentioned?

  • H2 receptors
  • Nicotinic receptors
  • β1 adrenergic receptors
• What is the pharmacological experimental setup?

  • Tissue mounted in organ bath
  • Measure biological response to drug
  • Investigate effect of increasing drug concentration
  • Plot responses against % response
• What is a dose-response curve?

  • Sigmoid curve
  • Represents relationship between drug dose and response
  • EC50 indicates effective concentration for 50% response

  
• What is competitive antagonism?

  • Agonist and antagonist bind to the same receptor
  • Antagonist prevents agonist binding
  • Causes rightward shift of agonist dose-response curve

  
• What are the chemical series mentioned for partial agonists?

  • Me = methyl (CH3)
  • Et = ethyl (CH2-CH3)
  • iPr = propyl (CH2-CH2-CH3)
  • nPr-nDec = CH2-CH2-CH3 - CH3-(CH2)8-CH2