Summary Nursing Pharmacology Key Terms Module 1 Test Guide

Nursing Pharmacology Key Terms Module 1 Test Guide Absorption - the process by which drug molecules move from their site of administration to the blood Affinity - the ability of some tissues to attract, accumulate and store drugs in high concentrations relative to other tissues blood-brain barrier - Blood vessels (capillaries) that selectively let certain substances enter the brain tissue and keep other substances out diffusion - process by which molecules tend to move from an area where they are more concentrated to an area where they are less concentrated distribution - the transport of drugs throughout the body after they are absorbed drug-protein complexes - formed when a drugh that binds reversibly to a plasma protein, particularly albumin, that makes the drug unavailable for distribution to its site of action enterohepatic recirculation - recycling of drugs and other substances by the circulation of bile through the intestine and liver enzyme induction - process by whick a drug increases the activity of the hepatic microsomal enzymes excretion - the process of removing substances from the body first-pass effect - mechanism whereby drugs are absorbed enter into the hepatic portal circulation and are inactivated by the liver before they reach the general circulation fetal-placental barrier - special anatomic barrier that inhibits many chemicals and drugs from entering the fetus hepatic microsomal enzyme system - as it relates to phamacotherapy, liver enzymes that metabolize drugs as well as nutrients and other endogenous substances, sometimes called the P-450 System isozymes - multiple similar forms of an enzyme that perform slightly different metabolic functions loading dose - relatively large dose of a drug given at the beginning of treatment to rapidly obtain a therapeutic response maintenance doses - amount of drug that keeps the plasma drug concentration in the therapeutic range metabolism - the process used by the body to chemically change a drug molecule, also called biotransformation