Walden University – NURS 6630 Psychopharmacology | Study Guide with Questions and
Answers | 2025 | Neurotransmission, Receptor Types, and Drug Mechanisms
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
Antagonists blocks agonists (both full and partial) from binding to G-protein-linked
receptors, thus preventing agonists from causing maximum signal transduction and instead
changing the receptor's conformation back to the same state as exists when no agonist is
present
Answers | 2025 | Neurotransmission, Receptor Types, and Drug Mechanisms
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
Antagonists blocks agonists (both full and partial) from binding to G-protein-linked
receptors, thus preventing agonists from causing maximum signal transduction and instead
changing the receptor's conformation back to the same state as exists when no agonist is
present
