Pharmacology of Addictive Substances Flashcards

Benzodiazepines produce their sedative and anxiolytic effects through which primary mechanism?

Answer: Enhancing GABA-A receptor chloride ion channel activity

Benzodiazepines bind to a modulatory site on GABA-A receptors and increase the frequency of chloride channel opening, potentiating GABA's inhibitory effects throughout the CNS.

Which statement accurately describes the pharmacology of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)?

Answer: THC binds to CB1 receptors in the brain and CB2 receptors in peripheral tissues

THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, exerts its effects by binding to endogenous cannabinoid receptors — CB1 receptors (CNS) and CB2 receptors (peripheral tissues).

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) produces its characteristic empathogenic effects primarily through which neurotransmitter?

Answer: Massive release of serotonin along with dopamine and norepinephrine

MDMA causes massive presynaptic release of serotonin (its primary effect) along with dopamine and norepinephrine, producing the empathogenic, entactogenic, and stimulant effects.

Which medication used in opioid use disorder treatment is classified as a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor?

Answer: Buprenorphine

Buprenorphine is a partial mu-opioid receptor agonist with a high binding affinity, producing submaximal opioid effects with a ceiling on respiratory depression, making it safer for maintenance therapy.

Naloxone reverses opioid overdose through which pharmacological mechanism?

Answer: It competitively antagonizes opioid receptors, displacing opioids

Naloxone is a competitive opioid receptor antagonist with high binding affinity that rapidly displaces opioids from receptors, reversing respiratory depression, sedation, and analgesia.

Which substance class poses the greatest risk of life-threatening withdrawal without medical management?

Answer: Alcohol and benzodiazepines

Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal can cause generalized tonic-clonic seizures and delirium tremens due to CNS hyperexcitability, and can be fatal without appropriate medical intervention.

The 'kindling' phenomenon in alcohol use disorder refers to:

Answer: Progressive worsening of withdrawal severity with each subsequent detoxification episode

Kindling describes the neurological phenomenon whereby repeated alcohol withdrawal episodes become progressively more severe, with increased risk of seizures and delirium with each successive withdrawal.