Week 1 Discussion Essay: Foundational Neuroscience

Explain the agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of psychopharmacologic agents.
Foundational Neuroscience for the Week 1 Discussion Essay
Foundational Neuroscience for the Week 1 Discussion Essay

Explain how psychopharmacological drugs work on a spectrum from agonist to antagonist.

The spectrum of agonists to antagonists shows how substances, whether they come from nature (like ligands) or are made in a lab (like psychopharmacological agents), affect receptor sites (Stahl, 2008). The agonists are substances that act like a naturally occurring agent but have a stronger effect on the receptor (Strange, 2008). An antagonist works by blocking the receptor site, which makes agents less effective (Strange, 2008). Substances can also be partial agonists, which means that their effect is somewhere between that of a full agonist and that of a full antagonist. It is an action that doesn’t boost it to the maximum level or stop it completely. Instead, it is an action that is somewhere in between the two (Strange, 2008). Neurotransmitters cause G-protein-linked systems and ion-channel systems to work, which is how many psychopharmaceuticals work (Stahl, 2008). Discussion and Assignments for Nurs 6630 week 1–11. Foundations of Neuroscience: Discussion Essay for Week 1.

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Look at how g couple proteins and ion gated channels work and compare and contrast them.

Neurotransmitters can turn on both G protein-coupled channels and ion-gated channels (Stahl, 2008). Seven alpha helices run through the membrane of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) (Strange, 2008). There are three parts to a G protein (alpha, beta, and gamma). Electrical signals and neurotransmitters can both turn on ion-gated channels (Stahl, 2008). Ion-gated channels change the flow of ions, which has an effect almost right away. GPCRs, on the other hand, take longer to work because they may change how cells work over time (Stahl, 2008).

Explain what epigenetics has to do with how drugs work.
Epigenetics is the study of gene expression, or which genes are turned on or off (Stahl, 2008). Genes can be turned on or off by drugs to get the effect that is wanted. Epigenetic regulation of brain functions is a big part of what causes mental disorders (Boks, et al., 2012). Many drugs, including psychiatric ones, can change epigenetic processes like DNA methylation and histone acetylation (Boks, et al., 2012). Foundations of Neuroscience: Discussion Essay for Week 1.

Explain how this information might change the way you give clients their medications. Give an example of a client and a situation in which the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner needs to know how the medication works.
The nurse practitioner will be able to give the best medicine to the client if she knows a lot about how medicines work. For example, knowing that many anxiolytics work on inotropic receptors and will work very quickly to calm a client in an acute situation instead of prescribing an antidepressant that works on GPCRs and will take much longer to help with an acute episode. Discussion and Assignments for Nurs 6630 week 1–11.

As a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, you need to know a lot about the basics of neuroscience. To diagnose and treat clients, you need to know not only how psychiatric disorders happen but also how the medicines used to treat them affect the central nervous system. These ideas are at the base of neuroscience and can be hard to grasp. So, this Discussion is meant to get you to think about these ideas, figure out why you think the way you do, and deepen your understanding by talking with your classmates.