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11: Neuropharmacology and Substance Use

  • Page ID
    151263
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    • 11.1: Introduction
      This page addresses the global challenge of drug misuse, noting that over 275 million individuals misused drugs in 2016, leading to severe health risks and preventable fatalities. It highlights that approximately 30 million suffer from substance use disorders, resulting in a financial burden of over $740 billion in the US. Additionally, the page introduces neuropharmacology, explaining the effects of drugs on the nervous system and differentiating between pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics.
    • 11.2: Common Routes of Administration
      This page explores drug administration routes, highlighting enteral and parenteral methods. Oral administration is common but slow, while IV injections offer rapid effects, increasing misuse risk. Alternatives like rectal and inhalation methods improve efficiency. Additionally, it covers insufflation for rapid effects, transdermal systems for slow-release drug delivery, and topical options for localized effects, emphasizing the importance of pharmacokinetics in assessing drug efficacy and safety.
    • 11.3: Neural Circuitry Involved in Reward
      This page discusses the significance of reward mechanisms in evolution, emphasizing how the ability to experience reward enhances survival by motivating food-seeking and reproduction. It details the brain's reward circuitry, focusing on the ventral tegmental area and its dopamine neurons within the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways.
    • 11.4: Molecular Pharmacodynamics
      This page provides an overview of essential pharmacology terms, focusing on drug actions at the molecular level. It covers neurotransmitter movement, receptor interactions, and reuptake proteins. The dose-response curve is discussed, illustrating the impact of dosage on receptor activation.
    • 11.5: Commonly Misused Substances
      This page outlines the regulation of drug use in the U.S., focusing on the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 and its drug classification system. It addresses the regulation gaps for alcohol and nicotine despite their misuse. The page highlights the opioid epidemic driven by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, examines the addiction risks of cocaine, and discusses the historical and potential therapeutic uses of psychedelics for mental health.
    • 11.6: Tolerance, Withdrawal, and Dependence
      This page explains drug tolerance as a decreased response requiring higher doses due to repeated use, resulting from metabolic or functional changes. It also discusses conditional tolerance linked to drug cues and contrasts it with sensitization, where effects may increase. Withdrawal symptoms indicate physical dependence, and prolonged use can lead to detrimental drug-seeking behaviors, underscoring the need for effective prevention and treatment strategies.
    • 11.7: Theories of Addiction
      This page explores the transition from casual drug use to addiction, focusing on individual susceptibility due to genetic and environmental factors. It reviews animal models like self-administration to analyze drug-related behaviors and presents three main addiction theories: the hedonia hypothesis (dopamine and pleasure), the incentive sensitization model (distinguishing "wanting" from "liking"), and the Brain Disease Model of Addiction (BDMA) which regards addiction as a brain disease.
    • 11.8: References


    This page titled 11: Neuropharmacology and Substance Use is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Austin Lim via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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