biological bases QUIZ 2 HRK

site of action

the location where a dug interacts with cells and produce an effect

excretion pathway

how drugs are expelled

(kidneys, liver, lungs)

kidney excretion

removes drugs through urine

liver excretion

metabolism

**liver is the primary organ that metabolizes drugs

lungs excretion

exhalation

lipid vs water solubility

higher lipid solubility = faster drug absorption in the brain

(lower lipid solubility = slower drug absorption to in the brain)

dose-response curve

shows the drug's effectiveness as the dose increases

therapeutic index (TI)

ratio of the effective dose to the lethal dose

- higher TI = safer drug

- lower TI = more risky drug

drug affinity

how strongly a drug binds to its receptor

- higher affinity = potent effect

- lower affinity - weak effect

agonist

facilitates postsynaptic effects

agonist example

Dopamine agonists enhance movement (make postsynaptic effects better)

antagonist

block postsynaptic effects

antagonist example

antipsychotics block dopamine (decreases/blocking postsynaptic effects)

Stereotaxic brain surgery

A minimally invasive surgical procedure that uses precise imaging techniques to target specific areas of the brain

stereotaxic brain surgery purposes

used to:

- implant electrodes

- inject drugs

- remove brain tissue

types of functional and structural imaging

- fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

- EEG (electroencephalogram)

- PET (positron emission tomography)

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

measures brain activity via blood flow change

EEG (electroencephalogram)

measures electrical activity

- useful for sleep studies

- useful to study epilepsy

PET (positron emission tomography)

tracks radioactive glucose to observe metabolism

sensory transduction

the process of converting sensory stimuli into neural signals

anatomy of the eye

- lens and retina

lens

adjusts shape to focus images on the retina

retina

inner layer of the eye with rods and cones

rods

dim light, black, and white vision

cones

color and bright light vision

lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus

a relay station in the thalamus that receives visual information from the retina and sends it to the primary visual cortex

parts of the LGN

- parvocellular layers

- magnocellular layers

parvocellular layers

High-resolution color and fine detail

magnocellular layers

large neurons processing movement and spatial patterns

primary visual pathways and streams

- striate cortex (V1)

- extrastriate cortex

- dorsal (where) pathway

- ventral (what) pathway

striate cortex (V1)

processes basic visual features

extrastriate cortex

combines information for perception

dorsal (where) pathway

motion and spatial awareness

- processed in MT/V5

ventral (what) pathway

object recognition

- processed in the fusiform face area, FAA

motion perception

processed in the dorsal stream

depth cues

binocular disparity

motion parallax

perspective

prosopagnosia

- face blindness

- inability to recognize faces due to damage to the fusiform face area (FFA)

"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver Sacks

- a case study of visual agnosia where the patient mistook his wife for an object due to impaired object recognition

dopamine

reward, motivation, movement

acetylcholine

muscle contraction, attention

norepinephrine

arousal, alertness

serotonin

mood regulation, sleep

GABA

main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS

glutamate

main excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS