Blatant Biology: Questions

Pharmacology

These are questions related to the module pharmacology

• Discuss the historical significance of opiates as some of the oldest known drugs from plant sources.
• Explain the concept of pharmacogenomics and its role in personalizing medicine for more effective treatment strategies.
• Discuss the importance of receptors as protein targets of drugs and how they can be manipulated by agonists and antagonists.
• Explain the role of enzymes in pharmacology and how inhibitors and prodrugs can affect drug activity.
• Discuss the concept of desensitisation and its impact on drug addiction.
• Explain the process of canonical signalling by GPCRs and how it leads to downstream effector molecule interaction.
• Explain the relationship between drug affinity for receptors and the dose required to obtain 50% occupancy of receptors.
• Explain the relationship between drug affinity for receptors and the dose required to obtain 50% occupancy of receptors.
• Discuss the concept of receptor reserve and its impact on agonist binding.
• Compare and contrast the properties of full agonists and partial agonists.
• Explain the concept of potency and how it is measured in relation to a standard drug.
• Discuss the factors that affect drug absorption through lipid membranes. How does lipid solubility impact pharmacokinetics?
• Explain the concept of volume of distribution and how it influences drug distribution in the body.
• Discuss the role of the blood-brain barrier in limiting drug distribution to the central nervous system.
• Examine the impact of protein binding on drug concentration and therapeutic effect.
• Analyse the relationship between body fat percentage and drug distribution in the body.
• Discuss the implications of drug competition for plasma protein binding in patients taking multiple medications.
• Discuss the different types of COX enzymes and their role in the production of inflammatory mediators.
• Explain the mechanism of action of aspirin as an anti-inflammatory drug and how it differs from other NSAIDs.
• Discuss the potential side effects of NSAIDs on the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys.
• Examine the controversy surrounding the drug VIOXX and its withdrawal from the market.
• Explain the role of inflammatory mediators in the degradation of joints in rheumatoid arthritis.
• Compare and contrast the mechanisms of action of methotrexate and sulfasalazine as DMARDs for rheumatoid arthritis.
• Explain the process of target selection in drug discovery and the importance of finding the correct receptor, enzyme, or transport protein.
• Explain the role of cytokines and chemokines in the pathogenesis of asthma and how they contribute to the late phase response.
• Describe the different phases of clinical research in drug development and their respective purposes.
• Discuss the importance of preclinical development in determining the safety and toxicity of a potential drug.
• Explain the significance of post-market surveillance in ensuring drug safety and detecting rare or long-term side effects.
• Explain the increasing complexity of biological molecules and provide examples of different forms of biologics.
• Discuss the challenges of animal toxicology in the development of biopharmaceuticals and propose alternative methods for testing.
• Examine the concept of immunotoxicology and its implications in drug development.
• Analyse the TGN1412 clinical trial incident and its impact on the safety of biological drug trials.
• Compare and contrast in vitro testing with in vivo testing in the context of receptor occupancy.
• Evaluate the role of immunotherapies, such as check-point inhibitors and CAR-T therapy, in the treatment of cancer.
• Discuss the different classes of anxiety disorders and the specific treatments for each.
• Explain the use of animal models in studying anxiety and how behavioural experiments can elicit fear responses.
• Describe the role of GABA in the treatment of anxiety and the pharmacology of GABA_A receptors.
• Discuss the physiological effects of benzodiazepine agonists and their therapeutic uses.
• Compare and contrast the modulation of GABA_A receptors by benzodiazepines and barbiturates.
• Explain the pharmacokinetics of benzodiazepines and the potential side effects of their use.
• Explain the difference between a partial seizure and a generalised seizure.
• Discuss the role of ion channels in the development of epilepsy.
• Describe the kindling model of epilepsy and how it is used in research.
• Explain the mechanism of action of benzodiazepines as antiepileptic drugs.
• Explain the process of injecting a virus into the brain to control epilepsy in animal models.
• Explain the different pathways of dopamine and their functions in the brain.
• Compare and contrast the first generation and second generation antipsychotic drugs.
• Explain how amphetamines and cocaine affect dopamine and noradrenaline levels in the CNS.
• Discuss the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the development of schizophrenia.
• Discuss the differences between unipolar depression and bipolar disorder, including their genetic components and brain regions affected.
• Explain the diagnostic criteria for depression and the role of genetic risk in its development.
• Describe the animal models used to study depression and their relevance in assessing the efficacy of antidepressant drugs.
• Discuss the role of monoamines in depression and how they are targeted by different categories of antidepressant drugs.
• Explain the major side effects associated with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and the potential risks of combining them with certain foods.
• Describe the mechanisms of action of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the reasons for their slow onset of efficacy.