drug

psychoactive drug

placebo and placebo effect

pharmacokinetics

    administration

        pros and cons of the following routes:
            oral
           
            rectal

            parenteral/injection (intramuscular, subcutaneous and intravenous)

            topical/transdermal

            through mucous membranes (nasal, sublingual, buccal)
 
    absorption into bloodstream and factors affecting it

        food-drug interactions affecting absorption

       the grapefruit juice effect

    distribution and factors affecting it, such as:
            solubility of drug

            drug binding to blood proteins

            membrane barriers
                blood-brain barrier

                placental barrier

            "first-pass" metabolism of drugs

    (drug action - covered in Chapter 2)

    metabolism
            by liver
                cytochrome P450 enzyme families

                factors affecting liver function

            at the site of  drug action

    elimination
            by kidney

            other routes of elimination

drug time course and factors which affect it

drug half-life and how to calculate how much drug is left in body at different times

steady-state concentration of drug in blood

"therapeutic window"

therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)

       "therapeutic window" for some drugs

(tolerance will be discussed later)