NEUR 3204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Neuropharmacology, Psychopharmacology, Chemical Substance
17 Dec 2019
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Document Summary
Pharmacology: the scientific study of actions of drugs and their effects. Neuropharmacology: the scientific study of drug-induced changes in the functioning of the brain. Psychopharmacology: the scientific study of drug-induced changes in mood, thinking and behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology: objective is to identify chemical substances that act upon the nervous system to alter behavior that is disturbed due to injury, disease, environment. Psychoactive drugs are any chemical substance capable of changing your brains function, and which results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and/or behavior. Drug action: specific molecular changes produced by a drug when it binds to its target site or receptor (neuropharmacology). Drug effect: widespread alterations in physiological and psychological function produced by a drug (psychopharmacology). Most of the drugs we know of are capable of acting on multiple sites. Very few drugs act in one specific place, for a specific time they are dirty! Drugs have multiple effects, like it or not.
