PSYC 2030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Curare, Opiate, Agonist
29 May 2018
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PSYC 2030 Lecture 17 Notes
Introduction
How Drugs and Other Chemicals Alter Neurotransmission
• These endorphins (short for endogenous [produced within] morphine) help explain
good feeligs suh as the ruer’s high, the paikillig effets of acupuncture
• The indifference to pain in some severely injured people.
• But once again, new knowledge led to new questions.
• If indeed the endorphins lessen pain and boost mood, why not flood the brain with
artificial opiates, thereby intensifying the brain’s ow feel- good heistry?
• But there is a problem: When flooded with opiate drugs such as heroin and morphine,
the brain, to maintain its chemical balance, may stop producing its own natural opiates.
• When the drug is withdrawn, the brain may then be deprived of any form of opiate,
causing intense discomfort.
• For suppressig the ody’s ow eurotrasitter produtio, ature harges a prie.
• Drugs and other chemicals affect brain chemistry, often by either exciting or inhibiting
euros’ firig.
• Agoist oleules irease a eurotrasitter’s atio.
• Agonists may increase the production or release of neurotransmitters, or block reuptake
in the synapse.
• Other agonists may be similar enough to a neurotransmitter to bind to its receptor and
mimic its excitatory or inhibitory effects.
• “oe opiate drugs are agoists ad produe a teporary high y aplifyig oral
sensations of arousal or pleasure.
• Atagoists derease a eurotrasitter’s atio y lokig produtio or release.
• Botulin, a poison that can form in improperly canned food, causes paralysis by blocking
ACh release.
• Small injections of botulin—Botox—smooth wrinkles by paralyzing the underlying facial
muscles
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