Neurotransmitter Transporters
These transporters remove serotonin from the synapse and are the target of SSRIs.
What are SERT transporters?
Receptors are proteins that interact with drugs and initiate this.
What is a chain of cellular events (signal transduction)?
A drug that binds to a receptor and fully activates it.
What is a full agonist?
Ion channels that open after neurotransmitter binding.
What are ligand-gated ion channels?
The mechanism by which SSRIs increase serotonin availability.
What is SERT inhibition?
NET stands for this transporter.
What is the norepinephrine transporter?
Receptors determine the relationship between drug dose and this.
What is the drug's effect (response)?
Abilify (aripiprazole) is an example of this type of receptor activity.
What is a partial agonist?
Ion channels that open because of changes in membrane charge.
What are voltage-sensitive ion channels?
Cocaine blocks these transporters but does not significantly affect VMAT2.
What are monoamine transporters (DAT, NET, SERT)?
DAT is responsible for transporting this neurotransmitter.
What is dopamine?
Neurotransmitters are considered this type of endogenous chemical signal.
What are ligands?
These drugs bind receptors but produce no intrinsic activity.
What are antagonists?
GABAA receptors are examples of this receptor type.
What are ionotropic receptors?
Benzodiazepines enhance signaling through this receptor system.
What is GABAA?
Amphetamines target both monoamine transporters and this vesicular transporter.
What is VMAT2?
Most psychotropic drugs act at this receptor family.
What are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)?
This type of drug produces the opposite effect of an agonist by reducing receptor activity below baseline.
What is an inverse agonist?
NMDA, AMPA, and kainate receptors are associated with this neurotransmitter.
What is glutamate?
MAO inhibitors work by targeting this class of proteins.
What are enzymes?
Blocking neurotransmitter transporters generally produces this effect in the synapse.
What is increased neurotransmitter availability/activity?
Receptors provide this important characteristic of a drug's action.
What is selectivity?
The "Goldilocks" receptor action that is not too much and not too little.
What is a partial agonist?
Antiepileptic drugs commonly exert effects through modulation of these channels.
What are voltage-sensitive sodium channels?
Current psychotropics mostly target neurotransmitters, receptors, and enzymes, but future drugs may target these intracellular communication pathways.
What are signal transduction cascades (second messenger systems)?