33-4 Effects of DRUGS

Bio 30 NWRC
Stimulants
• Stimulants are a class
of drugs that elevate
mood, increase
feelings of well-being,
and increase energy
and alertness.
 Stimulants
• Nicotine: Nicotine is the drug in
tobacco leaves. Whether
someone smokes, chews, or
sniffs tobacco, he or she is
delivering nicotine to the brain.
Each cigarette contains about 10
milligrams of nicotine. Nicotine is
what keeps people smoking
despite its harmful effects.
 Stimulants
• With each puff of a cigarette, a smoker
pulls nicotine into his or her lungs
where it is absorbed into the blood. In
eight seconds, nicotine is in the brain,
changing the way the brain works. This
process happens so fast because
nicotine is shaped like the natural
brain chemical acetylcholine.
Acetylcholine is one of many
chemicals called neurotransmitters that
carry messages between brain cells.
 Stimulants
• Neurons have special
spaces called receptors,
into which specific
neurotransmitters can fit,
like a lock and key.
Nicotine locks into
acetylcholine receptors in
different parts of the brain,
rapidly causing changes in
the body and brain..
Nicotine raises the heart
rate and respiration
(breathing) rate, and
causes more glucose, or
blood sugar, to be
released into the blood.
This might be why
smokers feel more alert
after smoking a cigarette
 Stimulants
• Nicotine also attaches to neurons that release a
neurotransmitter called dopamine. Nicotine
stimulates neurons to release unusually large
amounts of dopamine. Dopamine stimulates the
brain's pleasure and reward circuit, a group of
brain structures called the limbic system
involved in appetite, learning, memory, and
feelings of pleasure. Normally, pleasurable
feelings come from food, comfort, and the
company of people you love. But smoking
cigarettes causes a flood of dopamine in the
smoker's brain. It's this flood of dopamine that
gives the smoker intense feelings of pleasure.
 Stimulants
• In 40 minutes, half the effects of nicotine
are gone. So smokers get the urge to light
up for another dose of the drug. After
repeated doses of nicotine, the brain
changes. To adjust to too much
dopamine, the brain cuts production of
the neurotransmitter and reduces the
number of some receptors. Now, the
smoker needs nicotine just to create
normal levels of dopamine in his or her
brain. .
Another Stimulant - caffeine
• Caffeine is defined as
a drug because it
stimulates the central
nervous system,
causing increased
alertness. Caffeine
gives most people a
temporary energy
boost and elevates
mood.
• How it works….
 Caffeine
• When you feel sleepy it is because of molecules
called adenosine floating around in your brain.
Adenosine binds to adenosine-receptors on
neurons, facilitating the slow-down of your
brain’s signaling functions, and inducing a
sensation we term “drowsiness.” Adenosine
concentration is highest in the brain when you
have expended a lot of adenosine triphosphate
(ATP)—your body’s energy currency—so it
makes sense that you feel tired after working all
day or running a marathon.
• The key to caffeine’sCaffeine
stimulating capabilities
lies in its chemical
structure, which is
markedly similar to that of
adenosine. To a nerve
cell, the two compounds
are virtually
indistinguishable, and
thus, will allow either
caffeine or adenosine to
bind to the adenosine-
receptors. .
 Caffeine
• When caffeine occupies the binding sites on
nerve cells, it does not precipitate the slow-down
that results when adenosine binds to the nerve
• Instead of slowing down, the cells speed up and
fire their signals rapidly. The pituitary gland
senses all the neuron firing going on, and
assumes that the brain is in a state of
emergency.
• In order to aid the body in this apparent
molecular pandemonium, the pituitary gland
stimulates the sympathetic nervous system
(SNS) by releasing epinephrine (more familiarly
known as adrenaline).
Caffeine
• As the “fight or flight” branch
of the nervous system, the
SNS is responsible for
gearing the body up to deal
with stressful situations by
dilating the pupils, increasing
heartbeat, and facilitating
release of sugar by the liver
to allow for ample energy. All
of these effects work
together to produce the
signature buzz that has won
caffeine so many fans.
 depressants

• Depressants are substances that depress

the activity of the central nervous system.
Depressants are often referred to as
"downers" because of their sedative,
hypnotic and tranquilizing effects.
•
Depressant
Alcohol is the most
common legal
depressant. Other
depressants that are
legal are often
prescribed medications
used to induce sleep,
relieve stress, and
subdue anxiety. These
prescriptions are often
abused as well
 Depressants
• When alcohol reaches the brain, it affects
millions of nerve cells and changes
communication patterns. Alcohol affects
vision, distorts hearing, muddles speech,
impairs judgment, dulls senses, disturbs
motor skills, and reduces coordination. Deep
inside the brain alcohol affects areas that
control aggression, hunger, thirst, pleasure,
pain and body temperature.
Depressant

• The hypothalamus
portion of the brain
controls automatic
reflexes: breathing,
heartbeat and other
bodily operations over
which an individual
has no conscious
control. When alcohol
is present in the blood
stream it directly
effects the
hypothalamus
Depressant

• Alcohol has a
profound effect on the
frontal lobe- the part
of the brain that
allows us to analyze
and program our
behaviour.
 Another depressant -Inhalants
• Inhalants include a wide variety of breathable
chemicals that produce mind-altering results.
• Inhalant vapors contain chemicals that
breakdown the brain’s myelin, the protective
cover that surrounds many of the nerve cells
(like rubber insulation protects electrical wires).
And if myelin breaks down, nerve cells may not
be able to transmit messages.
 Inhalants
• When it affects the hippocampus, memory is lost
and the user loses the ability to learn new things,
may not recognize familiar things, or may have a
hard time keeping track of simple conversations.
• Probably the most serious affect of inhalants is
that they make the heart extra sensitive to a
chemical (noradrenalin) that carry messages from
the nervous system to the heart. If the heart
becomes too sensitive to noradrenalin, a normal
jolt may cause the heart to temporarily lose its
rhythm and stop pumping blood through the body
causing sudden death.
 Tolerance and Addiction
• Drug tolerance occurs when a subject's reaction to a
drug (such as a painkiller, intoxicant, or antibacterial)
decreases so that larger doses are required to achieve
the same effect.
• Addiction: Without a dose of the drug, dopamine levels
in the drug abuser's brain are low. The abuser feels flat,
lifeless, depressed. Without drugs, an abuser's life
seems joyless. Now the abuser needs drugs just to
bring dopamine levels up to normal levels. Larger
amounts of the drug are needed to create a dopamine
flood or high, an effect known as tolerance.
Assessment
• 1. It can increase the amt
of Neurotransmitter
released into a synapse
• It can block a
neurotransmitter site on
a dendrite
• It can prevent a NT from
leaving a synapse and
• It can imitate a NT
Assessment
• Cocaine and
amphetamines
prevent dopamine
from being re-
absorbed so
dopamine remains in
the synapse
• Nicotine and some
amphetamines
increase the release
of dopamines
Assessment
• 3. Stimulants and
depressants have
separate effects but
are not necessarily
opposites. For
example nicotine
increases the level of
dopamine while a
depressant might not
affect dopamine
levels at al.
Assessment
• 4. Students abusing
amphetamines
quickly become
addicted and suffer
from insomnia,
paranoia, anxiety and
confusion.