NESC 3237 Lecture Notes - Drug Tolerance, Grapefruit Juice, Hypothermia
Document Summary
Age: as you get older, function of the liver decreases, which makes your much more sensitive to drugs that affect your metabolism. Species: not all species metabolize all drugs in the same fashion, so the effects of drugs on metabolism between species may be different. Heavy drinkers have higher levels of alcohol dehydrogenase: which is why the more you drink, the more alcohol you can tolerate. Causes metabolic tolerance: so if you"re heavy drinker for many years and then quit, you"ll still have this abundance of alcohol dehydrogenase. St john"s word: used as a natural antidepressant, works by stimulating an enzyme that is associated with the metabolism of oral contraceptives. Grapefruit juice can block the enzyme that destroys many drugs in the intestine (blocks first pass metabolism: will increase effectiveness of drugs like viagra. Many species have different enzymes and different levels of them: very important when developing new drug and testing safety of new drug.