1. Explain the agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of
psychopharmacologic agents.
The spectrum of agonists to antagonists describes how substances,
either occurring naturally (ligand) or synthetically such as
psychopharmacologic agent, effect receptor sites (Stahl, 2008). The
agonists are agents can increase an action on the receptor by
mimicking a naturally occurring agent (Strange, 2008). An antagonist
acts by blocking the receptor site to decrease the action of agents
(Strange, 2008). Substances can also be partial agonists, which is an
action that ranges between full agonist and full antagonist. Instead of
increasing an action to the maximum level or blocking the action
completely, it is an action that is somewhere in between the two levels
(Strange, 2008). Many psychopharmacologic agents work by acting on
G-protein-linked systems and ion-channel systems because these are
triggered by neurotransmitters (Stahl, 2008).
1. Compare and contrast the actions of g couple proteins and
ion gated channels.
G protein-coupled and ion-gated channels are both triggered by
neurotransmitters (Stahl, 2008). G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)
have seven transmembrane alpha helices (Strange, 2008). G proteins
have three subunits (alpha, beta, and gamma). Ion-gated channels can
be activated by electrical signals and neurotransmitters (Stahl, 2008).
Ion-gated channels change the flow of ions, causing an almost-
immediate effect and GPCRs take longer to work because they may
make changes to cellular function over time (Stahl, 2008).
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