Learning Goals

Submodule 3A

Cellular Sites of Action

Understand how very small quantities of xenobiotic chemicals can cause large changes in physiology.
What is a receptor?
What is a second messenger?
How do xenobiotics affect receptors?
Understand that a variety of toxicants (different etiologies) might block a variety of sites yet have a common pathogenesis and clinical significance.
Understand free radical induced damage to lipids.
Vocabulary words: hormones, receptors, enzymes, substrates, active sites, Allosteric site, competitive, non-competitive, suicide, organophosphorous, acetylcholinesterase, agonist, antagonist, neurotransmitter, hemoglobin, methemoglobinemia, phospholipid bilayer.

Submodule 3B

Nerve gas

Know the "organophosphorous and nerve gas story."

Submodule 3C

More kinetics.

1. What is Phamacokinetics?
2. Why is it important?
3. What types of substances are absorbed in the GI tract?
4. What is "first pass effect?"
5. What types of substances are absorbed via the respiratory tract?
6. Ditto, through skin?
7. What are the two major process in "elimination?"
8. Give four routes of excretion.
9. Discuss a one compartment model, including Michaelis-Menten equation.
10. How might you determine bioavailability of a substance via the oral route.
11. Vocabulary words: lipophilicity, persistence, accumulated, first-pass effect, keratin, volume of distribution, rate of perfusion, blood-brain barrier, placenta, albumin, carrier protein, storage depots, biotransformation, metabolites, excretion, detoxication, bioactivation, one compartment model, zero order, first order, half-life, AUC, clearance, bioavailibity

Submodule 3D

MSDS Project

The assignment is designed to get the student involved with finding information on chemcials and transmitting that information to others. It encourages some web searching.

Submodule 3E

Web searching.

Define web searching and differentiate it from scientific literature searches.