PSY 242 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Drug Tolerance, Drug Metabolism, Bloodborne
Document Summary
Chapter 15 drug addiction and the brain"s reward circuits. Pharmacological: pertaining to the scientific study of drugs. Do not assume that because a drug is legal that it is safe. Psychoactive drugs: drugs that influence subjective experience and behaviour by acting on the nervous system. Oral ingestion: swallowed, dissolved in the fluids of the stomach, and carried to the intestine, where they are absorbed into the bloodstream. Inhalation: absorbed into bloodstream through the capillaries in the lungs. Absorption through mucous membranes: through nose, mouth, and rectum; e. g. cocaine. The blood-brain barrier makes it difficult for potentially dangerous bloodborne chemicals to pass from the blood vessels of the cns into its neurons. Some act diffusely on neural membranes, others bind to particular synaptic receptors, others influence nts, or influence the chain of chemical reactions elicited in the postsynaptic neurons. Actions of most drugs terminated by enzymes synthesized by the liver.
