PSYC62H3 Chapter 3: chapter 3
Document Summary
The difference in potency can be explained on the basis of how easily or quickly these drugs get to their sites of action, and how quickly they induce those actions. In order for a psychotropic drug to exert any effects on an organism, it must get to its sites of action in the nervous system. The effects of a particular drug on an organism depend heavily on the rate of accumulation and the concentration of the drug at its sites of action and the duration of the contact at those sites. The field of pharmacokinetics is primarily concerned with what the body does to the drug; together these determine the type, degree, and duration of a drug"s effects. Differences among organisms in their pharmacokinetics, due to genetic differences, the presence of other drugs, disease, and physiological and psychological status, can result in. 5- to 20-fold differences in their reactions to a given amount of drug within species, and.
