Pharmacodynamics - Answers How a drug affects the body
Receptors - Answers Large molecules that interact with and mediate the action of drugs
Up-regulation - Answers Increases the number of receptors; if an antagonist causes this can get rebound
effects if the drug is abruptly withdrawn
Down-regulation - Answers Decreases the number of receptors; if an agonist causes this can limit the
length of time the patient can take the drug
Agonists - Answers Activators; stimulates receptors.
Promotes normal function of the protein (receptor).
Antagonists - Answers Blockers; occupy receptors without stimulating them, prevent other molecules
from occupying that site.
Silences the protein and prevents function.
Beers Criteria - Answers List of potentially inappropriate medications that are best avoided by older
adults in most circumstances or with specific disease or conditions
Partial agonists - Answers Bind to receptors but stimulate only some of them, can help prevent too
extreme of a response
Therapeutic index - Answers Ratio of dose that causes ADRs to therapeutic dose, safer to have a wide
range than a narrow range
Prodrugs - Answers L-Dopa, codeine, hydrocodone, meperidine; inactive compounds that rely on
metabolism to become active
Adverse effect - Answers Any undesirable or unintended effect after administration of a drug
Potency - Answers How much of a drug is needed to produce a biologic response. The affinity of a drug
for a receptor.
Rational drug selection - Answers Identifying the proper drug for the clinical need, in doses that meet
the individual patient's requirements, for an appropriate period of time, at the lowest cost
Prototype - Answers Drug that embodies the characteristics shared by all members of the drug family; to
know the prototype is to know the drug class
Pharmacogenetics - Answers How genes influence individual drug responses; drugs can work faster or
slower, have increased side effects, not work at all