Peer responses week 2/NURS 6630: Psychopharmalogical Approaches to Treat Psychopathology

PEER RESPONSES WEEK 2

Yarima Palmero Castellanos

Yarima Palmero, First post, Action of Psychopharmacologic agents

COLLAPSE

Explain the agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of psychopharmacologic agents.

An agonist refers to a ligand that binds to a receptor and activates a biological response within the system where the receptor is situated. On the other hand, an antagonist blocks the response caused by an agonist in the receptor (Stahl, 2019). When an agonist is introduced to a receptor, it initiates the opening of the receptor channel thereby resulting in the action. The antagonist binds to the receptors without activating them. When an agonist psychopharmacologic agent is introduced into the body, it activates the receptive receptor that is sensitive to the agent. Stopping it requires either use of an inverse agonist agent which produces the opposite response or a neutral antagonist which blocks the activity of both full and inverse antagonist.

Compare and contrast the actions of g couple proteins and ion gated channels.

Ion-gated and g couple protein channels are two cell-surface receptors. The two play a crucial part in the response mechanism of a cell to an introduced agent/ligand. The difference between the two is in their mode of action. Ion gated channels are receptors have specific sites that allow for the biding of ligands (Ghaemi, 2019). They act by binding to a ligand, which activates the opening of channel through the membrane, allowing ions to pass through. G-couple protein receptors depend on the ligand binding to a protein called a g-protein (Alexander, et al., 2019). When the G-protein is activated, it interacts with an ion channel or an enzyme in the membrane.

Explain how this information may impact the way you prescribe medications to patients.

Various mental disorders are described to the action of receptors within the brain. Most importantly, the action of serotonin and dopamine play a role in the development and occurrence of anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias for serotonin; and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia for dopamine (Sumiyoshi, & Hashimoto, 2019). The ability to differentiate between various types of agonist drugs and antagonist drugs is essential in providing assistance. In the case of schizophrenia, the use of Haloperidol, which is a dopamine antagonist provides relief for schizophrenic patients and is also used to control motor and speech tics in people with Tourette Syndrome.

References

Alexander, S. P., Christopoulos, A., Davenport, A. P., Kelly, E., Mathie, A., Peters, J. A., ... & Yao, C. (2019). The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2019/20: G protein‐coupled receptors. British journal of pharmacology, 176, S21-S141.

Ghaemi, N. (2019). Clinical psychopharmacology: Principles and practice. Oxford University Press, USA.

Stahl, S. M. (2019). Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology. Cambridge University Press.

Sumiyoshi, T., & Hashimoto, K. (2019). Cognitive Enhancement in Psychiatric Disorders. Frontiers in psychiatry, 10, 435.

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Lovany Pierre

RE: Weekly Topic Respond/ Post here- Do not Start Own Thread

COLLAPSE

1. Agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of psychopharmacologic agents-

A. An agonist binds to a receptor and the receptor is activated, signal transduction occurs, and the outcome is a biological response. B. An antagonist binds to a receptor and blocks the receptor for binding by any agonists. Agonist of psychopharmacologic agents binds to neurotransmitter and caused an activation of receptors. The target is typically a metabotropic and/or ionotropic receptor (Li, 2014). An antagonist is a molecule that binds to a target and prevents other molecules such as agonists from binding(Li, 2014).

Compare and contrast the actions of g couple proteins and ion gated channels.

G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large family of approximately 350 members that bind a variety of ligands, including hormones, lipids, chemokines, and leukotrienes. G Protein‐Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), G Protein‐Coupled Receptor Kinases (GRKs), and Arrestins G protein‐coupled receptors comprise a large class of proteins that regulate many physiological functions such as sight, taste, smell, neurotransmission, cardiac output, and pain perception (Hudson, 2006). Ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) are integral membrane proteins that contain a pore which allows the regulated flow of selected ions across the plasma membrane (Ligand-Gated Ion Channels, 2011).

Explain how the role of epigenetics may contribute to pharmacologic action.

Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Epigenetic changes can affect your health in different ways: Germs can change your epigenetics to weaken your immune system to cause you get sick quicker. Epigenetic alterations are considered to be very influential in both the normal and disease states of an organism. Many diseases, such as cancers and neurodegenerative disorders, are often associated with epigenetic alterations (Rasool, 2015). For example, a patient with Alzheimer disease drugs can respond to pharmacological agents can be affected by epigenetics; drugs that are epigenetic may help manage the progression of the disease and make the patient has better life.

References,

Hudson, C., Loomis, C. (2006). Measure Biological Responses with Automated Microscopy. Methods in Enzymology. Retrieve http://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/g-protein-coupled-receptors/G Protein Coupled Receptors - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Ligand-Gated Ion Channels. (2011). British Journal of Pharmacology, 164(Suppl 1), S115–S135. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1476-5381.2011.01649_4.x

Li, S., Wong, A. H., & Liu, F. (2014). Ligand-gated ion channel interacting proteins and their role in neuroprotection. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 8, 125. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2014.00125

Rasool, M., Malik, A., Naseer, M.I. et al. The role of epigenetics in personalized medicine: challenges and opportunities. BMC Med Genomics 8, S5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/1755-8794-8-S1-S5