Evanescent action of acetylcholine on Dog BP

 The word evanescent means 'fast disappearing'.

Acetylcholine is an ubiquitous neurotransmitter acting in many neuronal pathways in both the central and peripheral nervous system.

The action of acetylcholine at the post-synaptic receptors is rapidly terminated  because of fast degradation of acetylcholine by acetylcholine-esterase in the synaptic cleft.

The human body also contains an enzyme in the plasma analogous to acetyl-choline esterase. The enzyme is known as butyrlcholineesterase or pseudocholineesterase which can degrade any exogenously administered cholineester including acetyl choline. 

The enzyme is also present in plasma of dogs. 

So, when acetycholine is administered by intravenous route in a dog, there is fall in mean blood pressure (due to peripheral vasodilatation, M3 receptors) and fall in heart rate ( M2 receptors) but the effect is rapidly terminated due to fast degradation of acetylcholine by pseudocholineesterase. Therefore, the effect of injected acetylcholine on dog BP is evanescent.  

Drug Synergism

 When two drugs are administered simultaneously, not necessarily by the same route,the drugs may act in the same or opposite directions. This phenomenon is known as drug  synergism.

 Literally, synergism means working together.

Synergism can be positive or negative.

 In positive synergism, the effect of two drugs combined together is greater than the sum of the effect of the two drugs used singly. 

Positive synergism is also known as supra-additive effect or potentiation. 

In negative synergism, the effect of the two drugs combined together is less than the sum of the effect of the drugs used singly. 

Negative synergism is better known as antagonism. 

In some synergistic combination, the effect of the two drugs combined together is simply the sum of the effect of the two drugs used singly. This is known as additive synergism.

 Additive synergism is useful in conditions where the dose of the two drugs in combination can be reduced to minimize the side effects associated with the individual drugs.

Thiazide diuretics in Diabetes Insipidus

  Anti-diuretic action of thiazides is secondary to increased renal sodium excretion.

 👉Thiazide diuretics inhibit the NaCl co-transporter in the renal distal convoluted tubule 

👉 Initially, this increases renal sodium loss in the urine

👉 The renal sodium loss causes extracellular volume contraction

👉 This leads to decrease in GFR.

 👉In response, there is increased proximal tubular sodium and water re-absorption.

 👉 Therefore, less water and solutes are delivered to the distal tubule and collecting duct

👉  So, finally, there is less loss of water and solutes in the urine 

Graded Dose Response Curve

 Dose-response curve is graphed by plotting the response obtained against incremental doses of the administered drug. Dose response is of two types- graded and quantal.

• Graded dose-response curve:
  • A Graded dose-response curve plots the drug effect which proportionately increase with the increase of drug dose.
  • Such a response to a drug can be seen only in an individual subject or animal or an experimental set up.
  • Since the plasma concentration of drugs varies as a function of the dose, graded dose-response curve is equivalent to plasma concentration-response curve.
• Quantal dose-response curve:
• A Quantal dose-response curve describes a drug effect which is binary (either present or absent) (ie whether an event has occurred or not)
• A quantal response to a drug is obtained by quantifying the percent of the total population in which response is seen at a specific drug dose. eg The plot of the proportion of patients cured of an infection against the increasing dose dose of an antibiotic

Factors affecting bio-availability

 Factors affecting bio-availability

1. First pass metabolism- reciprocal relation between first pass metabolism and bio-availability

2. Pharmaceutical properties of the drug- water/lipid solubility, pKa of the drug, molecular weight etc

3. Rate of dissolution of the drug formulation

4. Gastric and intestinal transit time.

5. Hepatic function- Normal or impaired

6. Age

7. Drug-drug interaction

8. Drug-food interaction

9.Route of administration

10. Enzyme induction/inhibition

 Measures/Indices of Bio-availability

Absolute Bio-availability

The systemic availability of a drug by any route compared to the intravenous route.

Relative Bio-availability

The systemic availability of a drug by any route compared to its standard formulation. It is also known as bio-equivalence.

Ketamine- The dissociative anaesthesia. "I see the colorful kites flying in the sky with no pain but with lots of excitement"

 

Ketamine is best described as "dissociative anaesthetic”.

 It “interrupts the communication” between the cerebral cortex and the limbic system.

 There is 

👉Profound analgesia 

👉Moderate hypnosis 

👉Marked sympathomimetic effect 

Hallucinations and hypersalivation also do occur.

Multiple mechanisms seem to modulate the wide responses of ketamine.

💥Antagonism of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor in the thalamus and reticular activating system is responsible for the analgesic effect.

💥Blockade of NMDA receptor in the cerebral cortex mediates the hallucinatory and hypnotic actions.

💥Sympathomimetic effects are due to direct CNS stimulation by enhanced central peripheral monoaminergic transmission.