PSYC62H3 Lecture : Lecture notes
Document Summary
The most important factors that determine a drugs effects is the concentration of the drug and its rate of absorption. Dose is the quantity of drug that is administered at one time. The greater the body weight of the subject, the greater the drug amount needed to achieve the same effect as on a normal person. One never sees a perfect linear relationship between the dose of a drug and a particular response. When you have a less linear function you will see a more sigmoidal function. Some species are much more sensitive to small concentrations of a drug such as rats. I t could also be that the drug may have different effects on different species. Drug actions tend to be active longer in infants and the elderly because the metabolize drugs at a much slower rate. The threshold dose is the minimum amount of the drug required to produce any desired effect of the drug.
