Walden NURS 6630 Psychopharmacology Study Guide

Walden NURS 6630 Psychopharmacology Study Guide classic synaptic neurotransmission stimulation of a presynaptic neuron (e.g., by neurotransmitters, light, drugs, hormones, nerve impulses) causes electrical impulses to be sent to its axon terminal. These electrical impulses are then converted into chemical messengers and released to stimulate the receptors of a postsynaptic neuron. The synaptic cleft is the gap between the presynaptic neuron and the postsynaptic neuron; it contains proteins and scaffolding and molecular forms of "synaptic glue" to reinforce the connection between the neurons. Receptors are present on both sides of this cleft and are key elements of chemical neurotransmission. the soma is the command center of the nerve and contains the nucleus of the cell axon Neurons send information via an ____ that forms presynaptic terminals as the ____ passes by (en passant) or as the ____ ends axodendritic synaptic connections between the axon and dendrites of two neurons axosomatic synaptic connections between the axon and the soma axoaxonic synaptic connections between axons of the two neurons The chemical basis of neurotransmission is how chemical signals are coded, decoded, transduced, and sent along the way. The anatomical basis of neurotransmission is neurons and the connections between them, called synapses, sometimes also called the anatomically addressed nervous system, a complex of "hard-wired" synaptic connections between neurons, not unlike millions of telephone wires within thousands upon thousands of cables The cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme system mediates how the body metabolizes many drugs, including antipsychotics. The CYP enzyme in the gut wall or liver converts the drug into a biotransformed product in the bloodstream. After passing through the gut wall and liver, the drug will exist partly as unchanged drug and partly as biotransformed drug. agonist produces a conformational change in the G-protein-linked receptor that turns on the synthesis of second messenger to the greatest extent possible full agonist is generally represented by the naturally occurring neurotransmitter itself, although some drugs can also act in as full a manner as the natural neurotransmitter Constitutive activity in the absence of agonist, the receptor's conformation is such that it leads to a low level of activity