Intro

Question 1

What is a drug

Answer 1

• a substance used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a disease or as a component of a medication
• synthetic or non-synthetic
• usually synthesized outside of the organism that produces effects of alters bodily functions

Question 2

types of drug usage

Answer 2

• therapeutics
• recreation or illegal purposes

Question 3

poisons vs. toxins

Answer 3

• poisons are drugs
• toxins are often defined as poisons of biological origin

Question 4

Pharmacology

Answer 4

the study of drugs, including their origin, chemistry, nature, effects and mechanisms of action

Question 5

What is a Active Ingredient ?

Answer 5

substance in a drug that is pharmacologically active

Question 6

Structural Elements

Answer 6

drug size, atomic composition, charge, and shape are relevant to the ability of drugs to act at receptors

Question 7

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 7

the action of a drugs on the body through its receptor interactions
- biochemical and physiological effects of drugs

Question 8

Pharmacokinetics

Answer 8

the action of the body on a drug: drug’s absorption, distribution and elimination
- dosage is relevant because it may relate to therapeutic vs. toxic usage

Question 9

How do Humans use plant compounds?

Answer 9

• ritualistic, religious, or magical use
• medicinal use (treat/cure disease or disease prevention)
• toxic or poisonous use
• recreational use

Question 10

Atropa belladona (Belladona)

Answer 10

• ex. of ritualistic, religious or magical use
• potions in the Middle ages were often prepared using plants from the Solanaceae family (nightshades)
• concept of ‘flying on broomsticks’ may have been the result of a drug-induced hallucinatory experience
• ‘witches’ would rub lipid soluble plant potions on their legs and subsequently believed they were flying

Question 11

Salix babylonica (Willow Species)

Answer 11

• ex. of medicinal use of plant compounds
• historical use recorded by Dioscorides in his De Materia Medica
• long history of willow use to treat gout, rheumatism, toothache, earache

Question 12

What is the Active Ingredient in Willow?

Answer 12

Salicin
- a glycoside compound that is broken down into salicylic acid when ingested
- a synthetic version of salicylic acid is more commonly known as Aspirin

Question 13

Example of Plant compounds used for murder

Answer 13

• socrates was killed using Conium maculatum (poison hemlock)

Question 14

What is the active compound in Conium maculatum?

Answer 14

• is an alkaloid called coniine
• many of the deadly compounds are chemically classified as ‘alkaloids’

Question 15

Castor Plants (what is their oil and derivatives used in?)

Answer 15

• are often planted for ornamental purposes in gardens
• oil and derivatives are used in: soaps, lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids, dyes, coatings, inks, cold resistant plastics, pharmaceuticals and perfumes
• castor oil is an FDA approved OTC laxative

Question 16

Examples of common plants that are toxic and What are their symptoms?

Answer 16

• daffodil, philodendron, mistletoe, tulip, oleander, sweet pea, tomato vines
• symptoms can range from mild stomach ache to skin rash, throat swelling, organ failure, and death

Question 17

What are the three domains that living organisms are organized in?

Answer 17

1. bacteria
2. archaea
3. eukaryota (animals, fungi, plants)

Question 18

Carl Linnaeus

Answer 18

developed system of binomial nomenclature to name living organisms in 1753

Question 19

Kingdom Fungi

Answer 19

fungi

Question 20

Kingdom Plantae

Answer 20

• phylum ginkophyta (ginkgo)
• phylum cycadphyta (cycas)
• phylum gnetophyta (ephedra)
• phylum anthophyta

Question 21

Phylum Anthophyta

Answer 21

• angiosperms (flowering plants)
• plant phylum with the most diversity
• includes hundreds of thousands of specimens

Question 22

Cannabis sativa

Answer 22

• one of the world’s oldest economic plants
• 18th and 19th centuries plantations established in Missouri, Mississipppi, and kentucky (G. Washington grew C. sativa in garden)
• to be or not to be considered an illicit drug??

Question 23

Synthetic Cannabinoids (why were they created, what effects do they have?)

Answer 23

• many were created for research purposes, in part due to legal restrictions on natural cannabinoids
• some may have potential in treating pain without inducing either tolerance or withdrawal
• vast majority of used recreationally result in hospitalization and are incredibly dangerous