PSY 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Endothelium, Sedative, Benzodiazepine

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2301
• Professor: Andra Smith

Document Summary

Focus on new research: neural basis of drug cravings. Study of how drugs affect the nervous system and behaviour. Chemical compounds administered to produce a desired change in the body. Substance that acts to alter mood, thought, or behaviour and is used to manage neuropsychological illness. Oral administration is the safest, easiest, and most common route. But oral administration is also the most complex as there are more barriers that the drug must cross to have its desired effect. Other methods, such as inhalation or injection, produce much faster effects as there are fewer barriers for the drug to pass. Helps prevent most substances, including drugs, from entering the brain via the bloodstream. Endothelial cells in capillaries located throughout the body are not tightly joined, so it is easy for substances to move into and out of the bloodstream. In contrast, endothelial cells in the brain are tightly joined and the presence of astrocytes help keep most substances out.