DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR: Quiz #1

List 2 of the 5 ancient practices by cultures that employed pharmaceuticals, many "natural".

-Religious/cultural practices -Ordeal poisons -Medicinal practices -Arrow poisons -Pesticides

What is the refractory period? What ionic events produce the return to and overshoot of the resting potential? Why does this period cause one-way communication of the action potential from cell body to axon terminal?

A period immediately following stimulation during which a nerve or muscle is unresponsive to further stimulation.

What is the synaptic cleft? Sketch a diagram of the synaptic cleft and be sure to identify the presynaptic membrane, postsynaptic membrane, vesicles, neurotransmitter and receptors.

A space between one synapse where released neurotransmitters travel to another neuron.

Why does a dose-response curve represent a great example of experimental research methodology?

Because it is set up like a traditional experiment. Independent Variable is the dose of the drug and the Dependent Variable is the response of the behavior we are measuring.

Who was the first Psychopharmacologist and what did he study? Who was the first Behavioral Pharmacologist and what did he study?

JJ Moreau de Tours was the first psychopharmacologist and he studied Hashis and mental illness. Charvell was the first behavioral pharmacologist and he studied dependance with animal models.

Identify and define the role of the following parts of a neuron: dendrite, cell body (soma), axon, terminal ending (button)

Dendrite: Collectors of info from other neurotransmitters Cell Body (Soma): Holds the DNA Axon: Conducts electrical pulses away from the cell body. Terminal ending (Button): Contains neurotransmitters and sends them shooting across synapse.

How does route of administration of a drug impact changes in blood levels of a drug over time? Does this account for the abuse potential of a drug, like cocaine, varying just depending on route of administration?

Depending on the type of administration, the drugs onset is different. I.v is fast and oral or I.m is slower onset. This accounts for drug abuse potential ?

When considering applications of pharmacology, identify 3 of the 5 potential concerns of pharmacology as a discipline.

Diagnosis, Cure?, Prevention, Alleviate symptoms, promoting optimal health

Ancient practices that predate the modern science of pharmacology are called protopharmacology. What did Diasoredes and Eber contribute by way of protopharmacology.

Diasoredes: He contributed Nero's Surgeon and the PDR (Physician's Desk Reference). Eber: He contributed the Roman MercManual/PDR which had chemical formulations for drugs.

How would a researcher study whether alcohol influences motor performance?

Driving Simulators are big in showing motor performance because it allows us to see how a drug influences our motor performance and reactions via driving.

Identify 2 ancient drugs used in the Old World. Identify an ancient drug used in the New World.

Old World: Opium and Alcohol New World: Coco Leaves

What is the "Key" and "Lock" mechanism within the synapse? How do this produce either EPSPs or IPSPs?

Only certain neurotransmitters work with certain receptors and are either positively charged causing (EPSP's) or more negatively charged causing (IPSP's).

What is the parenteral route of drug administration? Provide 2 specific examples of this type of drug administration.

Parenteral route of administration means anything that isn't an oral route. (Capillary, Diffusion, Depot Injections) Examples: Vehicle (normal or physiological saline), Subcutaneous (Stuck between fascia and skin), Intramuscular (Slow admin through muscles), Intraperitoneal (Put into space that holds abdomen..fast onset), Intravenous (Through veins..onset within seconds), Intrathecal (through spinal fluid), and intraventricular (in your brain).

Anesthesias are administered via this route of drug administration. Why is this route very "efficient"?

Peroral Inhalation. It is efficient because it is a fast onset and can easily be taken out of the body since the lungs are always taking in new oxygen. Once drug is taken away from mouth then patient comes out of drug state.

Describe a technique to measure unconditioned/reflexive behavior in nonhuman animals.

Unconditioned: Pain with the paw lick or tail flick task. Shows pain tolerance/awareness with different drugs.

Describe place conditioning. How can you measure whether a psychoactive drug produces Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) using place conditioning techniques? Be sure to describe the NS, CS, US, UR, CR. Provide an example.

You can see that based off of whether they seek the black or white side of the place conditioning chamber after the weeks of drug administration. NS: Distinctive locale US:Drug UR: Drug induced reflexive responses CR:Drug seeking behavior ----Conditioned place preference (Black side of the chamber) -------------or-------------- ----Conditioned place aversion (White side of the chamber)

When it comes to terminating the influence of a neurotransmitter in the synapse, there are 3 processes that stop neurotransmission within the synapse. Describe those three mechanisms/processes for stopping the influence of a neurotransmitter in the synapse.

(Enzymatic deactivation) occurs when an enzyme changes the structure of a neurotransmitter so that it is no longer recognized by the receptor. (Reuptake) is the reabsorption of a neurotransmitter by a neurotransmitter transporter of a pre-synaptic neuron after it has performed its function of transmitting a neural impulse. An (autoreceptor) is a type of receptor located in the membranes of presynaptic nerve cells. It serves as part of a negative feedback loop in signal transduction. It is only sensitive to the neurotransmitters or hormones released by the neuron on which the autoreceptor sits.

What is the threshold for an axon? What happens when an axon attains threshold?

-60 mV, this is the charge in which the sodium gates pop open and produce an action potential.

When considering drug interactions when 2 drugs are taken at the same time, what is antagonism, an additive effect and potentiation (superadditive effect)? Identify the drug combinations from the graph above FIGURE 2-4 that illustrate each of these unique drug interactions.

-Antagonism: one drug takes away from the effects of another. (B+C) -Additive Effect:Drugs from the same class add to the effects of each other. (A+D) -Potentiation (Superadditive Effect): Two drugs that have similar effects make the maximum effect go up. (A+B)

Describe 2 historical curiosities when considering early cultural use of psychoactive drugs.

-Atropine being used as a possible beauty aid because it dilated your eyes which was thought to be a sign of beauty. -Curare is a plant extract from south america and is thought to have been used as poison darts.

Identify 2 of the 4 assumptions for our course, Drugs & Behavior.

-Behavior and mental processes are a function of brain (CNS) activity. -Brain activity is in part a chemical event. -Behavior reflects and produces chemical changes in the brain. -Drugs interact with these CNS chemical processes thereby altering brain function and psychological processes.

Identify and describe the 4 names used to identify the very same chemical used as a drug.

-Chemical Name: what the drug is made of -Generic Name: This is the original name of the drug that is sold. It also can aid in telling what the drug does. -Trade/Brand Name: This is the name of the drug after the original sellers years are up of being the only distributor. Although it has a new name it has to also list the Generic Name. -Street Name: This is what people on the street call the drug and are made and defined by society.

Cultures and societies across the centuries have attempted to curb human consumption of psychoactive drugs. Provide 2 examples of attempts to regulate drug use and be sure to identify the drug and the culture.

-Nicotine: In russia Czar's "easy" solution for people who were using nicotine was simply that they were put to death. -Alcohol: The Gin act in Great Britain prohibited distillers from selling to non licensed merchants and then creating a fee for merchants, eliminating small Gin shops which restricted the distribution of Gin to larger distillers and retailers.

Describe the 4 types of schedules of reinforcement. Use this knowledge to explain the dose- response curve above using 2 different schedules of reinforcement (lever pressing for food reward). Note: FL is a typo in the graph, should be FI 15'

1. Fixed Ratio (FR)-A certain # of lever presses that are needed to get the reward. 2. Variable Ratio (VR)-Rat cannot predict how many lever presses are needed in order to receive the reward. 3. Fixed Interval (FI)-A certain time limit (15 min or 30 min) then next lever press gets a reward. 4. Variable Interval (VI)- Rat cannot predict how much time needs to go by before receiving the reward. In figure it shows that with the Fixed interval there is a more consistent and rapid lever pressing and with fixed variable the rat allows for the drug to lessen before pressing lever due to time elapsing.

What are Clinical Trials? Describe the 4 phases of Clinical Trials research.

1. Human testing of toxicity and side effects on healthy human volunteers 2. Tested on patients under very supervised conditions. Recording adverse effects. If phases 1 and 2 have minimal toxic effects and also has possible potential therapeutic effects then it goes to phase 3 3. expanded clinical trials in teaching hospitals and use 3 group design. 4. improved dosing schedules may be developed and those who may have risk to having adverse reactions can be identified.

What is an absolute threshold? How would a researcher use this psychophysical technique to evaluate a drug's influence on sensory processes and why does this have applied value?

Absolute threshold is the minimum amount of light energy you can detect. This could be used to show how this detection can be changed when under the influence of a drug which can be dangerous. If you aren't as alert to changes in your environment and your absolute threshold changes this has value in showing how drugs alter our state of being.

List 4 of the issues frequently evaluated by Pharmacologists

Absorption,Distribution, Biotransformation, Dose-response relationships, Concentration changes over time, Localization of sites of action, Identification and characterization of mechanisms of action

What is the action potential? What ionic events produce the action potential?

Action potential: A brief electrical charge that travels down the axon. This happens because of a movement of positively charged atoms that go in and out of the channels of the axon's membrane.

How would a researcher use EEG technology to study arousal states associated with drug effects on behavioral and brain processes? That is, how might EEG output be a window into brain correlates of changes arousal states?

Awake patterns and Sleep patterns allow you to look at someone's arousal state.

Compare and contrast between-subjects (groups) and within-subjects (groups) experimental designs within the context of a study evaluating drug effects on behavior. Also consider the care needed when conducting and interpreting outcomes from drug effects on behavior research using within-subjects designs.

Between Subjects is two or more separate groups of individuals experiencing different testing factors at the same time. Such as one group of individuals receiving cocaine and one getting alcohol and then both looking at motor function. Within Subjects is the same group of subjects experiencing multiple factors at different times. Such as one day getting cocaine and another day getting alcohol to study the differences of motor function with the different drugs. With within subjects you need to be careful of carryover effects.

What is the BBB? Why is this "system" so important when considering whether drugs have psychoactive effects? What forms the BBB?

Blood Brain Barrier ? Formed by microvascular endothelial cells

How do researchers use operant conditioning to study the reinforcing properties of psychoactive drugs? Provide an example.

By using a lever to administer the drug. This means in order to get the drug the rat must lever tap to receive the drug, showing the reinforcement the rat gets if it keeps seeking out the drug.

Chemical, Generic, Trade/Brand, Street. What are these and which of the following terms belongs with either Chemical, Generic, Trade or Street: angel dust, Sernyl, phencyclidine, 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine.

Chemical: (1-phenylcyclohyxyl)piperdine Generic: Phencyclidine Trade/Brand: Sernyl Street: Angel Dust

Describe Classical Conditioning and define all of the terms: NS, CS, US, UR, CR

Classical Conditioning: is a learning task in which an already rewarding stimulus is paired with a previously neutral stimulus. NS: Distinctive locale US:Drug UR: Drug induced reflexive responses CR:Drug seeking behavior ----Conditioned place preference -------------or-------------- ----Conditioned place aversion

What are EPSPs and IPSPs?

ESPS's: more positive ISPS's: more negative

What is ergot? Discuss how this "drug" may have influenced early Colonial Culture in New England.

Ergot is a fungus that grows on rye. It can cause a burning sensation on the skin and hallucinations. It may have influenced the early colonial culture in New England because of the St. Anthony's fire and the feeling of burning skin and hallucinations being thought to be a product of witches. This is thought to have possibly lead to the widespread fear of witches.

What is a Balanced Placebo Design? Within the context of human psychopharmacology and alcohol effects on behavior, how does this type of design allow for detection of "pure" placebo effects and "pure" drug effects? Hint: There are 4 conditions.

Example of balanced placebo: Group A: Expect to receive drug and do Group B: Expect to receive drug and get placebo Group C: Do not expect to get drug and do Group D: Do not expect to get drug and get placebo. Allows you to look at how people act when they do or do not think they have a drug in their system vs. when they do have a drug in their system and expect to vs don't expect to. In the do not expect to have drug and do you get a pure drug effect and when you expect to not have the drug and you do not then you have a pure placebo effect. Group A and B can show expectancy effects.

What is systematic introspection and why does the POM (Profile of Mood States) represent a fine example of this method when study subjective drug influences?

External signs of internal phenomena (1-5 on anxiety, depression, anger etc) It subjectively allows us to look at internal states of being externally.

Compare and contrast Fast-Acting and Slow-Acting Transmission/Receptors.

Fast chemical synapses release a neurotransmitter substance that binds directly to ion channels on the postsynaptic membrane and changes the permeability of the postsynaptic membrane, thus causing an electrical potential change. For slow chemical synapses, the neurotransmitter substance binds to a receptor protein on the postsynaptic membrane. This binding causes release of an intracellular transmitter in the postsynaptic cell and that transmitter then binds to ion channels on the postsynaptic membrane.

Describe the sodium Na+/K+ pump. Why is the pump so important for maintaining the resting potential?

For every 2 potassiums let in the axon 3 sodiums are pumped out of the axon. It is important to maintaining resting potential because it makes sure that the charge is always balanced inside the cell since it is always pumping.

Consider Freud, Pavlov, and James, all important figures in the history of Psychology. What did each of these people contribute to our understanding of Drugs & Behavior?

Freud: Uber Coca, one of the first pioneers in the properties of cocaine. Pavlov: Drug Conditioning and using classical conditioning as a way of looking at addiction. James: Conscious experience and mind altering substances.

What is a 3 Group Design for experimentally studying psychotherapeutic drug effects on behavior? Identify each of the 3 groups needed and what they reveal to the researcher.

Group A: New Drug Group B: Vehicle (Placebo) Group C: Existing/approved drug They reveal the differenced and similarities between old and new drugs in comparison with a norm set by the control/placebo group. Can also do this in a balanced design if worried about expectancy effects.

What is the half-life of a drug? How do pharmacologists measure half-life?

Half Life: Time it takes to excrete 50% of the drug. The measure it by looking at the percentage of drug in the system from initial injection and dosage.

Why is the Ph level of a specific drug so important? Describe what happens if the Ph level of the drug is very different from the Ph level of the environment where the drug is floating.

If the pH's are very different it becomes ionized and has a harder time moving throughout the system. Can go through something called Ion Trapping which means the drug does not move.

Why do all studies of drug effects on behavior need placebo control groups? Describe your own study that uses a placebo control group to evaluate a drug's influence on behavior.

In order to have a comparison to a "normal" for the measured behavior. If I wanted to look at certain amounts of alcohol's effect on motor function I'd want not only different doses of the drug but also a control group to have a norm behavior to compare them to. This is also can be used to look at placebo effects.

What is an independent variable and dependent variable? Provide an example of each from a hypothetical study to establish a dose-response curve for a drug.

Indépendant Variable: What you're changing (the dose of a drug) Dependent Variable: What you're measuring. (The behavior such as activity counts or response stereotypy).

What is insufflation? What does PO mean when it comes to drug routes of administration?

Insufflation is when a drug is blown into a body cavity such as nasal inhalation. PO means peroral or through the mouth.

What is drug self-administration? How is this a special form of positive reinforcement using operant conditioning procedures?

It is a form of operant conditioning where the rat self administers the drug via a pump. Every time the rat presses the lever it receives a dose of the drug. It is a special form because the reward is a drug and isn't something that is biologically rewarding such as food.

Drug dissociation, also known as State Dependent Learning/Memory, may explain how drugs impact memory processes. Provide your own example of SDL to illustrate the 4 groups needed to demonstrate a drug's state dependent properties. Hint: remember the 2X2 table.

Learn no drug Learn Drug Recall No Good Bad Drug Recall Drug Okay Good If I learn something while I'm drinking my recall of the information while sober will be bad however if I recall it while drinking again my recall will be good. On the flip side if I learn something while sober and recall it sober my recall is good but if I recall it while drinking my recall is only okay.

Provide an example of correlational methodology to explore drug taking relationships with behavioral measures. Why must the researcher refrain from making causal statements?

Marijuana and academic performance You cannot make causal statements because 1. you do not know what is causing what 2. you don't know anything about other hidden factors that may be at play.

Levels of analysis vary in pharmacology from the micro to macro. Identify and describe three fields that contribute to pharmacology and whether they employ micro or macro approaches.

Micro is looking at smaller scaled things such as neurons and neurotransmitters. Macro looks at people as a whole such as their behavior and emotions. Neurochemistry: Neurons and neurotransmitters (micro). Behavioral Pharmacology: Nonhuman animal models (macro) Psychopharmacology:Humans with an emphasis on various psychological processes such as emotion, cognition etc (Macro?)

Define negative reinforcement. How is this operant conditioning process used to explain why some use and abuse psychoactive drugs? Provide an example this form of drug use from your reading, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain.

Negative Reinforcement: A response or behavior is increased due to the removal of an adverse stimulus. This is shown in operant conditioning through avoidance learning. In Memoirs of an addicted brain he uses disassociative drugs such as cough medicine to take away the pain of the depression he is going through.

Define potency and effectiveness (efficacy). Use the outcomes from the experiment portrayed above FIGURE 2-3 to discuss the relative potency and efficacy of the three drugs.

Potency: This refers to the differences in the ED50 of two drugs. The drug with the lower ED50 is the more potent. Heroine is more potent than both morphine and aspirin. Effectiveness refers to the differences in the maximum effect the drug with produce. Heroine and Morphine are equally as effective.

What is the resting potential? Identify the locations of ions inside and outside of the axon during the resting potential and how the ion concentrations contribute to this electrical state along the length of axon.

Resting Potential: when a neuron is not being stimulated, it has a negative charge of -70 mV Lots of sodium chloride outside the axon and potassium and protein inside the axon.

Identify and describe a task used to study drug influences on cognitive performance (processes).

STM Paradigms. This is a task where there is a list of words given with a distraction test and then you're supposed to recall as many words as you can. If you use people under the influence of drugs it allows you to look at the impact of drugs on cognitive performance.

Define set and setting. Why are these two concepts so important in understanding the effects of psychoactive drugs on behavior and mental processes?

Set: Internal state of the organism (Psychological state and expectation of the person. Setting: External cues present (Social cues and physical environment). It is thought that the set and setting can have an influence on the experience a person has with the drug. The set is thought to play a role because how good/bad you feel on the inside is thought to alleviate or magnify the drug experience. Setting plays a role because where the drug is taken can play a role in rehab and drug relapse. If someone only takes drugs from one place it then becomes a sort of trigger or could also work to aid in therapy.

What are Spatial and Temporal Summation?

Spatial summation is a mechanism of eliciting an action potential in a neuron with input from multiple presynaptic cells. Temporal summation is from a single neuron.

What is the traditional definition for a "drug"? Why is there are grey area when defining whether a chemical is a drug?

The traditional way is to define a drug as any substance that alters the physiology of the body. Grey area because there are things like poppy seeds and vitamin C in different forms.

Define the term therapeutic window? Why is this concept so important for using drugs to treat abnormal behavior?

Therapeutic window refers to the range of blood levels of a drug between the lowest therapeutically effective blood levels and a level that causes undesirable side effects. This is important to know because it shows you the levels of the drugs in which it becomes therapeutic.

What is a voltage/electrical gated ion channel? Are these closed or open during the resting potential?

They are gates that open or close based on changes in the membrane potential. During resting potential the gates are closed.

Some argue that drug states are discriminative stimuli that set the stage for appropriate responding. How do you study this using operant conditioning and how can a nonverbal animal tell you what a drug "feels" like?

They inject with either drug or saline and then the rat has to choose the right or left lever to get food depending on the infusion. They can hit either lever so if they hit the left one with the drug it shows that they enjoy that drug.

If a researcher wants to know whether a drug will move through a lipid membrane, like those forming walls of cells (circulatory system, neurons), then what can the research calculate? Be sure to describe how this is calculated and what a coefficient of 1 or 0 indicates.

They need to calculate lipid solubility. Amount of drug in oil/amount of drug in water. 1-highly lipid soluble 0-non lipid soluble

Consider the Dose (Effect) Response Curve above. FIGURE 2-2 Define the following terms and identify the precise drug dose unit associated with each term: Threshold dose Maximal response dose ED-50 LD-50 Therapeutic Index Based on the Therapeutic Index calculated, is this drug safe?

Threshold Dose: The minimally effective dose (3 in picture) Maximal Response Dose: When all the subjects in the sample show the desired response. (9.5 in picture) ED-50: Effective Dose of the first 50% of the subjects (6 in picture) LD-50: Lethal Dose of the first 50% of the subjects (18) Therapeutic Index: LD50/ED50, TI<10 is hazardous, TI> or equal to 100 is "safe" (3) This drug in the picture is hazardous.