level: Level 2
Questions and Answers List
Psychoactivate substances. Pharmacology of the reward system.
level questions: Level 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Binding affinity (affinity) | the propensity of molecules of a drug or other ligand, to bind to receptors. |
| Efficacy (intrinsic activity) | the extent to which a drug activates a response when it binds to a receptor. |
| Partial agonist | a drug that, when bound to a receptor, has less effect than the endogeneous ligand would. |
| Dose-response curve (DRC) | a formal plot of a drug's effects on the y-axis vs the dose given on the x-axis. |
| Pharmacodynamics | collective name for the factors that affect the relationships between a drug and its target receptors, such as affinity and efficacy. |
| Tolerance | a condition in which, with repeated exposure to a drug, an individual becomes less responsive to a constant dose. |
| Metabolic tolerance | the form of drug tolerance that arises when repeated exposure to the drug causes the metabolic machinery of the body to become more efficient at clearing the drug. |
| Functional tolerance | decreased responding to a drug after repeated exposures, generally as a consequence of up- or down-regulation of receptors. |
| Down-regulation | a compensatory reduction in receptor availability at the synapses of a neuron. |
| Up-regulation | a compensatory increase in receptor availability at the synapses of a neuron. |
| Cross-tolerance | a condition in which the development of tolerance for one drug causes an individual to develop tolerance for another drug. |
| Withdrawal symptom | an uncomfortable symptom that arises when a person stops taking a drug that he or she has used frequently, especially at high doses. |
| Sensitization | a process in which the body shows an enhanced response to a given drug after repeated doses. |
| Bioavailable | referring to a substance, usually a drug, that is present in the body in a form that is able to interact with physiological mechanisms. |
| Biotransformation | the process in which enzymes convert a drug into a metabolite that is itself active, possibly in ways that are substantially different from the actions of the original substance. |
| Pharmacokinetics | collective name for all the factors that affect the movement of a drug into, through, and out of the body. |
| Blood-brain barrier | the mechanisms that make the movement of substances from blood vessels into brain cells more difficult than exchanges in other body organs, thus affording the brain greater protection from exposure to some substances found in the blood. |
| Local anesthetic | a drug, such as procaine or lidocaine, that blocks sodium channels to stop neural transmission in pain fibers. |
| Autoreceptor | a receptor for a synaptic transmitter that is located in the presynaptic membrane, telling the axon terminal howmuch transmitter has been released. |
| Caffeine | a stimulant compound found in coffee, caco and other plants. |
| Adenosine | in the context of neural transmission, a neuromodulator that alters synaptic activity. |
| Transmitter reuptake | the reabsorption of synaptic transmitter by the axon terminal from which it was released. |
| Transporter | specialized receptors in the presynaptic membrane that recognize neurotransmitter molecules and return to the presynaptic neuron for reuse. |
| Degradation | the chemical breakdown of a neurotransmitter into inactive metabolites. |
| Antipsychotics | a class of drugs that alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia. |
| Typical antipsychotics | a class of antischizophrenic drugs whose principal mode of action is antagonism of dopamine D2 receptors. |
| Atypical antipsychotics (atypical neuroleptics) | a class of antischizophrenic drugs that have actions other than or in addition to the dopamine D2 receptor antagonism that characterizes the typical antipsychotics. |
| Antidepressants | a class of drugs that relieve the symptoms of depression. |
| Tricyclic antidepressants | a class of drugs that act by increasing the synaptic accumulation of serotonin and norepinephrine. |
| Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) | a drug that blocks the reuptake of transmitter at serotonergic synapses. |
| Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) | a drug that block the reuptake of transmitter at both serotonergic and noradrenergic synapses. |
| Anxiolytics | a class of substances that are used to combat anxiety. |
| Depressants | a class of drugs that act to reduce neural activity. |
| Barbiurate | a powerful sedative anxiolytic derived from barbituric acid, with dangerous addiction and overdose potential. |
| Benzodiazepine agonists | a class of antianxiety drugs that bind to sites on GABAA receptors. |
| Orphan receptor | any receptor for which no endogenous ligands has yet been discovered. |
| Allopregnanolone | a naturally occurring steroid that modulates GABA receptor activity in much the same way that benzodiazepine anxiolytics do. |
| Neurosteroids | steroids produced in the brain. |
| Opium (papaver somniferum) | a heterogeneous extract of the seedpod juice of the opium poppy. |
| Morphine | an opiate compound derived from the poppy flower. |
| Analgesic | referring to painkilling properties. |
| Heroin | diacetylmorphine, an artificially modified, very potent form of morphine. |
| Opioid receptor | a receptor that responds to endogenous and or exogenous opiates. |
| Periaqueductal gray | the neuronal body-rich region of the midbrain surrounding the cerebral aqueduct that connects the third and fourth ventricles, involved in pain perception. |
| Endogenous opioids | a family of peptide transmitters that have been called the body's own narcotics. The three kinds are nekephalins, endorphins and dynorphins. |
| Enkephalins | one of three kinds of endogenous opioids. |
| Endorphins | one of three kinds of endogenous opioids. |
| Dynorphins | one of three kinds of endogenous opioids. |
| Marijuana | a dried preparation of the Cannabis sativa plant, typically smoked to obtain THC. |
| Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) | the major active ingredient in marijuana. |
| Endocannabinoid | an endogenous ligand of cannabinoid receptors, thus, and analog of marijana that is produced by the brain. |
| Anandamide | an endogenous substance that binds the cannabinoid receptor molecule. |
| Khat (qat) | an african shrub that, when chewed, acts as a stimulant. |
| Nicotine | a compound found in plants, including tobacco, that acts as an agonist on a large class of cholinergic receptors. |
| Cocaine | a drug of abuse, derived from the coca plant, that acts by potentiating catecholamine stimulation. |
| Dual dependence | dependence for emergent drug effects that occur only when two drugs are taken simultaneously. |
| Amphetamine | a molecule that resembles the structure of the catecholamine transmitters and enhances their activity. |
| Fetal alcohol syndrome | a disorder, including intellectual disability and characteristic facial anomalies, that affects children exposed to too much alcohol (through maternal ingestion) during fetal development. |
| Hallucinogens | a class of drugs that alter sensory perception and produce peculiar experiences. |
| LSD (acid) | lysergic acid diethylamide, a hallucinogenic drug. |
| Ketamine | a dissociative anesthetic drug that acts as an NMDA receptor antagonist. |
| Dissociative drug | a type of drug that produces a dreamlike state in which consciousness is partly separated from sensory inputs. |
| MDMA (ecstasy) | a drug of abuse, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. |
| Dysphoria | unpleasant feelings, the opposite of euphoria. |
| Nucleus accumbens | a region of the forebrain that receives dopaminergic innervation from the ventral tegmental area. |
| Insula | a region of cortex lying below the surface, within the lateral sulcus, of the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes. |
| Cue-induced drug use | an increased likelihood to use a drug (especially an addictive drug) because of the presence of environmental stimuli that were present during previous use of the same drug. |
| Vaccination | injection of a foreign substance, such as deactivated viruses or conjugated molecules of drugs of abuse like cocaine, in order to provoke the production of antibodies against the foreign substance. |