General Pharmacology Quiz

Study Notes

Pharmacology is the study of drugs and their interactions with living organisms.
It encompasses the study of drug properties, mechanisms of action, therapeutic uses, and adverse effects.

Pharmacodynamics focuses on the effects of drugs on the body.
It explores how drugs interact with receptors, enzymes, or other cellular components to produce their therapeutic or adverse effects.
Drugs can act as agonists, antagonists, or partial agonists to modulate cellular processes.

Pharmacokinetics describes the movement of drugs within the body.
It encompasses four main processes: absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination.
Absorption is the transfer of a drug from its administration site into the bloodstream.
Distribution is the reversible movement of the drug from the bloodstream into body tissues and fluids.
Metabolism is the process of transforming drugs into more water-soluble forms for easier excretion.
Elimination is the removal of the drug and its metabolites from the body, primarily through urine or feces.

Bioavailability refers to the fraction of an administered drug that reaches systemic circulation in an unchanged form.
Volume of distribution (Vd) reflects the apparent volume in which a drug is distributed within the body.
Clearance is a measure of the rate at which a drug is removed from the body.
Half-life (t1/2) is the time required for the drug concentration in the body to decrease by half.

The process of metabolism transforms lipophilic drugs into hydrophilic, readily excretable products.
The liver is the primary site for drug metabolism.
Specific drugs may undergo biotransformation in other tissues, such as the kidney and intestines.

The drug and its metabolites are removed from the body in urine, bile, or feces.

Mechanism:
- A ligand binds to receptor molecules, causing them to dimerize.
- The kinase activity of one molecule catalyzes the transfer of phosphate from ATP to the tyrosines of the other, and vice versa.
- Dimerized and phosphorylated receptor proteins become active and are recognized by intracellular proteins.
- These active intracellular proteins, called "Relay proteins," stimulate pathways in the cell.

The choice of drug administration route depends on the drug's properties and therapeutic objectives.
Major routes of drug administration:
- Enteral: Oral (PO), sublingual, buccal, rectal
- Parenteral: Intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM), subcutaneous (SC)
- Other: Transdermal, topical, inhalation