NROSCI 0080 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lethal Dose, Drug Action, Psychoactive Drug
Document Summary
Pharmacology: the scientific study of the effect of drugs on the biological system. Pharmacokinetics: how the drug affects the body. Psychoactive drug site of action = synapse. Receptors: a molecule which binds to a receptor (ligand) Dose of drug (quantity of a drug) drug/body weight. Efficacy: the ability of a drug-receptor complex to produce maximum response. Higher efficacy means that the drug reached its max response at a low dose. Potency: proportional to both efficacy and affinity lower ec50 = more potency. Affinity: the extent to which the ligand/drug is capable of binding and remained bound to the receptor. High affinity: the ligand binds well and remains bound long enough to activate the receptor. The greater the ratio the safer the drug. If the number is at least 10 the drug is considered safe . Agonist: a drug that binds to target and activates that target. Can be a receptor, enzyme, transporter, vesicle.
