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Questions and Answers
What was the primary cause of death 100 years ago?
What was the primary cause of death 100 years ago?
Which antibacterial drugs were first used extensively during WWII?
Which antibacterial drugs were first used extensively during WWII?
Who is credited with the discovery of Penicillin?
Who is credited with the discovery of Penicillin?
What type of bacteria does Penicillin primarily target?
What type of bacteria does Penicillin primarily target?
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What mechanism does Penicillin use to inhibit bacteria?
What mechanism does Penicillin use to inhibit bacteria?
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What is a major consequence of the overuse of antibiotics?
What is a major consequence of the overuse of antibiotics?
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Which of the following is a common side effect of antibiotic use?
Which of the following is a common side effect of antibiotic use?
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Amoxicillin is known for its broad activity against which type of organisms?
Amoxicillin is known for its broad activity against which type of organisms?
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Why are higher animals not affected by Penicillin?
Why are higher animals not affected by Penicillin?
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What significant issue has emerged alongside the use of antibiotics?
What significant issue has emerged alongside the use of antibiotics?
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What is the primary function of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)?
What is the primary function of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)?
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Which category of antiretroviral drugs specifically stops reverse transcriptase from functioning correctly?
Which category of antiretroviral drugs specifically stops reverse transcriptase from functioning correctly?
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What mechanism do protease inhibitors use to combat retroviral infections?
What mechanism do protease inhibitors use to combat retroviral infections?
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Which condition is associated with atherosclerosis and is primarily caused by it?
Which condition is associated with atherosclerosis and is primarily caused by it?
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Which of the following diseases is caused by a virus and cannot be treated with antibiotics?
Which of the following diseases is caused by a virus and cannot be treated with antibiotics?
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What is considered normal blood pressure according to the standards provided?
What is considered normal blood pressure according to the standards provided?
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Which of the following is NOT one of the four major categories of drugs for lowering blood pressure?
Which of the following is NOT one of the four major categories of drugs for lowering blood pressure?
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What is the main reason that antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections?
What is the main reason that antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections?
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What type of virus is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)?
What type of virus is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)?
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What is the major goal of drug treatments for heart diseases?
What is the major goal of drug treatments for heart diseases?
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Which of the following statements about vaccinations is true?
Which of the following statements about vaccinations is true?
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Which of the following statements about hypertension is true?
Which of the following statements about hypertension is true?
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Which class of drug is Didanosine (ddI)?
Which class of drug is Didanosine (ddI)?
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What is the role of antiretroviral drugs?
What is the role of antiretroviral drugs?
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How do RNA viruses replicate within a host cell?
How do RNA viruses replicate within a host cell?
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Saquinavir is classified as what type of antiviral drug?
Saquinavir is classified as what type of antiviral drug?
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What is the primary function of diuretics in lowering blood pressure?
What is the primary function of diuretics in lowering blood pressure?
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What happens when T cells are destroyed by HIV?
What happens when T cells are destroyed by HIV?
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Which type of drug is responsible for slowing down both physical and mental activities?
Which type of drug is responsible for slowing down both physical and mental activities?
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What type of infection is Tamiflu® used to prevent?
What type of infection is Tamiflu® used to prevent?
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What is the effect of cocaine on dopamine levels in the brain?
What is the effect of cocaine on dopamine levels in the brain?
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Which of the following is NOT classified as a depressant drug?
Which of the following is NOT classified as a depressant drug?
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What is a common long-term effect of methamphetamine use?
What is a common long-term effect of methamphetamine use?
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Which class of drugs is known to induce changes in sensory perception?
Which class of drugs is known to induce changes in sensory perception?
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Which neurotransmitters are elevated by stimulant drugs?
Which neurotransmitters are elevated by stimulant drugs?
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Which combination of drugs creates a synergistic effect that can be extremely dangerous?
Which combination of drugs creates a synergistic effect that can be extremely dangerous?
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What substance was accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann in 1943?
What substance was accidentally discovered by Albert Hofmann in 1943?
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Which drug is especially powerfully addictive and has a lethal dose estimated at about 50 mg?
Which drug is especially powerfully addictive and has a lethal dose estimated at about 50 mg?
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What is the primary purpose of the drug development process?
What is the primary purpose of the drug development process?
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Which of the following is NOT a reason why people use drugs?
Which of the following is NOT a reason why people use drugs?
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What typically happens to a drug once its patent expires?
What typically happens to a drug once its patent expires?
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What role do prostaglandins play in relation to NSAIDs?
What role do prostaglandins play in relation to NSAIDs?
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Which of the following is a characteristic of narotics?
Which of the following is a characteristic of narotics?
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Which method begins drug development by identifying biological molecules related to a disease?
Which method begins drug development by identifying biological molecules related to a disease?
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What is a primary side effect of NSAIDs?
What is a primary side effect of NSAIDs?
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What is the main effect of morphine and its derivatives?
What is the main effect of morphine and its derivatives?
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What is one way in which heroin differs from codeine?
What is one way in which heroin differs from codeine?
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Which of the following substances is primarily used for cough suppression?
Which of the following substances is primarily used for cough suppression?
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What is a common application of high-throughput screening in drug development?
What is a common application of high-throughput screening in drug development?
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What motivates the chemical modification of existing drugs?
What motivates the chemical modification of existing drugs?
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Why might NSAIDs not be suitable for people undergoing surgery?
Why might NSAIDs not be suitable for people undergoing surgery?
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Study Notes
UGEB2380: The Chemistry of Life (2024-25)
- Course title: The Chemistry of Life
- Academic year: 2024-2025
- Instructor: Dr. Sam CK HAU (Department of Chemistry)
Medicines and Drugs
- Definition: Chemical substances affecting living things' functions.
- Usage: Treat, diagnose, and prevent diseases.
- Reasons for use: Relieving pain, fighting infections, staying awake, calming anxiety, preventing conception, and treating various conditions (from arthritis to cancer).
- Extensive use: Over 4 billion prescriptions annually in the US, exceeding $320 billion in sales.
Drug Development
- Process: Identifying drug candidates (chemical compounds with biological activity) using various methods.
- Methods:
- Rational drug design: Identifying biological molecules involved in a disease and designing molecules to interact with those targets.
- High-throughput screening: Employing robotics to screen thousands of compounds.
- Serendipity or chance: Accidental discoveries.
- Chemical modification of existing drugs: Improving efficacy and/or reducing side effects.
- FDA approval process: Thousands of compounds are screened and tested before receiving marketing approval. The process is time-consuming, often taking 15 or more years.
- Clinical trials are expensive, involving human subjects and comparing the drug to a placebo (an inert substance used as a control).
- Drug protection: New drugs are initially protected by patents, preventing other companies from producing and selling similar drugs. This protection ends when the patent expires. Afterwards, generic drugs (chemically equivalent but less expensive) can enter the market.
- Time scale: The period for development can vary.
Nonprescription Pain Relievers
- Semi-synthetic drugs: Made by chemically modifying natural products (late 19th century).
- Natural products: Chemical compounds produced by living organisms.
- Example: Aspirin, with more than 2400 years of history and used by ancient physicians (such as Hippocrates) to ease pain and lower fever.
- Active ingredient: Willow leaves (isolated as active ingredient in 1835).
Aspirin
- Active ingredient isolated from willow leaves in 1835.
- Effective analgesic (pain reliever), antipyretic (fever reducer), and anti-inflammatory.
- Side effects: Stomach distress and bleeding.
- Introduced by Bayer in 1893.
Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
- Examples: Aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and ketoprofen.
- Mechanism: Inhibit the production of prostaglandins (hormone-like lipids that send pain signals to the brain). This is less about curing the problem and more about blocking the messenger.
- Side effects: Can affect blood platelets, kidneys, and stomach lining, potentially causing excessive bleeding and stomach pain.
- Usage restrictions for surgery, childbirth, or other situations where blood loss poses a danger.
Narcotics
- Definition: Stronger prescription drugs used for severe pain relief.
- Mechanism: Produce narcosis (stupor or general anesthesia), analgesia (pain relief), and are often addictive.
- Historical source: Opium from the dried, resinous juice of unripe poppy seeds (Morphine is the extracted compound).
- Side effects: Constipation, lethargy, drowsiness, confusion, euphoria, chronic constipation, and depression of the respiratory system.
Morphine
- Isolation date: 1805.
- Historical use: Widely used in wars for pain relief, often due to battle wounds.
- One major side effect: Constipation and addiction.
- Current usage: Prescribed for severe pain relief, but often accompanies side effects like lethargy, drowsiness, confusion, euphoria, chronic constipation and depression of the respiratory system.
Morphine Derivatives
- Codeine: Similar to morphine but less potent, with less tendency to induce sleep and less addictive. Used in cough suppressants.
- Heroin: More potent than codeine and morphine, and harder to treat as an addiction. It's made from a conversion of morphine, inducing addiction more quickly.
Drugs and Infectious Diseases
- Infectious diseases' impact: Declined as a primary cause of death through the use of antibacterial medication.
- Antibacterial drugs: Sulfa drugs were widely used in World War II.
- Overall: Improved treatment of infectious diseases.
Antibiotics
- Source of the drugs: Moulds and fungi.
- Discovery of Penicillin: By Alexander Fleming in 1928.
- Development: Further development of Penicillin, purification, and improvements by scientists including Florey and Chain.
- Mechanisms: Inhibit enzymes needed for bacterial cell wall synthesis, causing holes to form in the wall and leading to the death of the bacteria.
Penicillin
- Class of drug: Antimicrobial (kills microbes).
- Not a single substance but a range of related compounds, with varied effectiveness.
- Administered forms: Orally and by injection.
- Applications: Widely used in prescription.
- Spectrum of activity: Against many microorganisms (broad spectrum).
How Antibiotics Work
- Bacterial targets: Enzymes used for cell wall synthesis.
- Mechanism: Penicillin inhibits the enzymes involved in cross-linking between bacterial cell wall molecules (mucoproteins). This forces holes to appear in the cell walls, causing the bacteria to swell and rupture.
- Effect on higher animals: Higher animals' cells do not have cell walls. Penicillin does not harm these cells.
Antibiotics and Drug Resistance
- Resistance development: Bacteria develop strains resistant to antibiotics by sharing genes for antibiotic resistance and producing copies of resistant strains.
- Implications for health: Drug resistance is a significant threat to global health.
Viruses
- Treatment: Cannot be cured by antibiotics. This is because antibiotics work to kill bacteria, not viruses.
- Prevention: Vaccines are often quite effective in preventing viral infections.
- Example: Influenza (flu) vaccines.
DNA and RNA Viruses
- Structure: Composed of nucleic acids and proteins (some RNA viruses have a lipid membrane).
- Reproduction: DNA viruses replicate in the host cell's nucleus, directing the cell to produce viral proteins; the viral proteins and viral DNA assemble into new viruses and released.
- Replication: RNA viruses replicate in the host cell's cytoplasm, often through an enzyme which converts DNA to RNA (reverse transcriptase).
- Different effects: The two viral types have different methods of reproducing.
Antiviral Drugs
- Role: Effective against some viruses, but not a cure.
- Examples: Various drugs, including nucleoside analogs.
Antiretroviral Drugs
- Target retroviruses (example: HIV).
- Types:
- Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs): Substitute analogs for nucleosides in the viral DNA, preventing proper replication.
- Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs): Prevent reverse transcriptase from working properly.
- Protease inhibitors: Block the enzyme protease, preventing the creation of new retroviruses.
Drugs for the Heart
- Cardiovascular diseases: Responsible for a significant portion of deaths worldwide.
- Main categories of heart disease:
- Ischemic coronary artery disease (lack of oxygen supply).
- Arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats).
- Hypertension (high blood pressure).
- Congestive heart failure.
- Atherosclerosis (build-up of fatty deposits in the artery walls): Causes coronary artery disease.
- Drug treatments: Increase blood and oxygen supply, normalize heart rhythm, lower blood pressure, and prevent lipid plaque deposits in the vessels.
Lowering Blood Pressure
- Measurement: Blood pressure is measured in mmHg (millimeters of mercury).
- Categories of drugs:
- Diuretics: Excrete more water.
- Beta blockers: Slow heart rate and decrease force of contraction.
- Calcium channel blockers: Relax blood vessels.
- ACE inhibitors: Inhibit an enzyme that causes vessel constriction.
Drugs and the Mind
- Psychotropic drugs: Affect the mind and/or body.
- Types of psychotropic drugs:
- Stimulant drugs: Increase alertness, speed mental processes.
- Depressant drugs: Slow down both physical and mental activity.
- Hallucinogenic drugs: Induce qualitative changes in sensory perception.
Stimulant Drugs
- Source: Plant alkaloids.
- Examples:
- Cocaine: Readily absorbed by the mucous membrane of the nose, leading to increased dopamine levels.
- Caffeine: Mildly addictive; less harmful.
- Nicotine: Highly addictive.
- Other stimulants: Amphetamines, methylphenidate (Ritalin), and others.
Depressant Drugs
- Effect: Reduce the level of consciousness and intensity of reactions to environmental stimuli.
- Examples:
- Alcohol (ethanol): Slows down physical and mental activity, often with a strong potential for abuse.
- Barbiturates: Used as sleeping pills.
- Tranquilizers: Reduce anxiety; some are used as sleeping pills.
Hallucinogenic Drugs
- Effect: Causes changes in sensory perception; qualitatively altering the way users perceive things.
- Types:
- Natural: Psilocybin mushrooms.
- Synthetic: MDMA (Ecstasy), DMT, PCP, ketamine.
- Semisynthetic: LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), mescaline.
- LSD: Accidentally discovered by chemist Albert Hofmann in 1943.
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