Ch.04 Introduction to Pharmacology - Key Terms
A chemical substance with the ability to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria by interfering with bacteria life processes.
Antibiotics
A class of cardiovascular drugs that fight high cholesterol and triglycerides.
Antihyperlipidemic Drugs
First-line therapy for schizophrenia and other psychoses that address social symptoms, as well as positive and negative symptoms
Atypical antipsychotics drugs
A steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex often used to reduce inflammation and pain
Corticosteroids
Substance used to relieve pain
Analgesia
Drugs used to treat or prevent seizures
Anticonvulsants
Drugs that work against high blood pressure.
Antihypertensive Agents
A class of drugs that acts as a sedative, hypnotic, anti-anxiety medication, and anticonvulsant. Many of these drugs share the suffix -pam
Benzodiazepines (BZD)
A condition characterized by anxiety, hopelessness, irritability, intense sadness, loss of concentration, pessimism, and problems with eating and sleeping
Depression
Generic drugs that deliver approximately the same amounts of active ingredient into a healthy volunteer's bloodstream in the same amount of time as the innovator or brand name drug. Also defined as drugs determined by the FDA as biologically comparable and very much like the original biological drug
Bioequivalent drugs
Medications used to treat symptoms of depression, including sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, and other symptoms.
Antidepressants
A drug that removes swelling from skin and internal organs
Anti-inflammatory drugs
Class of drugs that slow the fight or flight response to stress and make the heart beat slower with less force by blocking the hormone epinephrine, also known as adrenaline. Many of these drugs share the suffix, as in metoprolol and propranolol, but also as in carvedilol and metoprolol.
Beta-adrenergic blockers (beta blockers)
Drugs that reduce or prevent skeletal muscle contraction and pain by interfering with muscle life processes
Muscle relaxants
a GI disease characterized by radiating burn or pain in the chest and an acid taste, caused by backflow of acid stomach contents across an incompetent lower esophageal sphincter also referred to as heartburn
GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)
A class of drugs that supply insulin to lower sugar or stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin. The sulfonylureas class of drugs are the most common ones.
Anti-diabetic drugs
Medications used to manage disordered thought and personality behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations, mania, and severe agitation
Antipsychotic drugs
This class of drugs blocks calcium from entering the cells of the blood vessels to keep them from gaining rigidity
Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs)
Class of drugs that numb or blunt the senses, induces sleep, or has other psychic characteristic properties, including the opium-based and opium-like drugs
Narcotic
The "good cholesterol" that picks up floating low-density lipoproteins (the "bad cholesterol") and sweeps them away through the bloodstream
HDL (High Density Lipoprotein)
Common drugs for drugs that block the H1 receptors; drugs used to treat and lessen the symptoms of allergies.
Antihistamines
A disorder that manifests itself in difficulty focusing or concentrating, over-activity, and difficulty with impulse control
ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
Antibiotic drugs developed to act like penicillin against bacteria
Cephalosporin antibiotics
A class of drugs that provide pain, swelling, and fever reduction
NSAID
A condition caused by excessive thyroid hormone and marked by increased metabolic rate; also called thyrotoxicosis.
Hyperthyroidism