Epidemiology Of Metabolism

Opioid drugs are some of the most widespread pain medications that we have in this country; indeed, the fact is that opioid analgesic prescriptions have increased by over 300% from 1999 to 2010 (Mitch 989). Consequently, the number of deaths from overdose increased from 4000 to 16,600 a year in the same time frame (Mitch 989). This fact becomes even more frightening when you think about today; the annual number of fatal drug overdoses in the Unites States now surpasses that of motor vehicle deaths (Alexander 1865). Even worse, overdose deaths caused by opioids specifically exceed those attributed to both cocaine and heroin combined (Alexander 1865).

Morphine is a highly addictive opiate psychoactive painkiller. It is often used before or after surgery to alleviate severe pain. Morphine acts by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. The drug was originally derived from the poppy seed plant before it was chemically enhanced and manufactured. Starting off, the drug was used to cure alcoholism and certain types of addictions. This didn’t last very long considering morphine was found to be much more addictive than alcohol. In the early 1900s, morphine was identified as a controlled substance under the Harrison Act. The Harrison Act was put in place to control morphine by making it only legal for those

b) Janine made this statement: “… if your brain doesn’t get carbs—well, glucose, anyway—you get

The reason that this drug can be so intense and dangerous is because it falls into the category II narcotics. Many commonly known narcotics include opium, morphine, and heroin. The addiction rate of any of these drugs is phenomenal. Narcotics are central nervous system depressants that relieve pain without causing the loss of consciousness. They can also produce feelings drowsiness, mental confusion and euphoria. The analgesic effects of narcotics result from the drugs’ effects on the emotional aspects of pain. Many patients that experience intense pain say that after the administration of the narcotic, their pain is as intense as ever but no longer as bothersome. Because narcotics block the emotional side effects of pain they make it much more bearable.

The opioid epidemic in America continues to grow at an alarming rate with no end in sight. All narcotics are derived from the opium poppy plant and then manufactured into different forms of drugs such as morphine, heroin, and other pharmaceutical and synthetic opioid drugs sold on the market for pain. Opium derived drugs block and suppress pain by binding to and stimulating the natural receptor sites for endorphins found in the central nervous system of a user’s brain. Patients who are prescribed narcotic drugs can quickly become addicted to the drugs because their body’s will stop producing endorphins and instead

P4: Explain the physiology of two named body systems in relation to energy metabolism in the body

People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull” said Wendell Berry. The same could be said with a toxic organic compound named Morphine. Morphine is white, crystalline and odorless which contain 17 carbon, 19 hydrogen atoms, 1 nitrogen atom and 3 oxygen. (C17H19NO3) Under organic compounds, it’s classified in the “True Alkaloid” group as the nitrogen is organized in a heterocycle and originated from amino acid. Morphine are produced through an extraction from plants like “Papaver Somniferous” then processed or produced synthetically for medication and recreational purposes.

However, the last 40 years have seen perhaps the worst drug crisis yet: that of the current American opioid epidemic. Statistics make it obvious that smuggled heroin, corrupt doctors, and “pill mill” pharmacies are causing the 33,000 annual overdose deaths in our country. But to truly understand the effects of this growing issue, we must closely analyze the history, chemical makeup, and physiological draw to these drugs and the lives of their users and abusers.

Buprenorphine is morphine-like but is 25 to 50 times more potent [15,16]. It is noteworthy that buprenorphine has very low oral bioavailability because it undergoes extensive first-pass metabolism. However, its bioavailability is substantial enough that sublingual (SL) administration makes this a feasible treatment for opioid dependence. The mean time to peak plasma concentration following SL administration varies and can range from 40 minutes to 3.5 hours. Buprenorphine is highly protein bound (96%) and has a large volume of distribution. It is metabolized extensively to norbuprenorphine by N-dealkylation, primarily through cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4. The half-life of buprenorphine is long, and there is considerable variation in reported values of terminal elimination, with mean values ranging from 3 to 44 hours. Most of a dose of buprenorphine is eliminated in the feces, with approximately 10–30% excreted in urine.

Prescription painkillers go by many names, opiates, opioids, and narcotics. There are also types of opiates; some legal and some not. Some types of legal opiates include: codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, hydromorphone, and methadone (MSU). Each one of these have different potencies and side effects, but they are all equally as dangerous as the next one. There are too many of these dangerous drugs, therefore, people believe they are safe. The problem is that they are not safe; these drugs need to be banned immediately.

Codeine or methyl morphine, an alkaloid, was first isolated in 1832 from raw opium. It concentration ranges from 0.2% to 0.8%. Mostly used for its analgesic, anti-tussive and anti-diarrheal capabilities (Tremlett, Anderson and Wolf, 2010). Paracetamol also known as acetaminophen (n-acetyl-p-aminophenol, APAP) on the other hand, is a useful non- steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAID). It is commonly

There has been a recent spike in deaths due to fentanyl overdose in Canada. A recent article published by the Globe and Mail, titled “How Canada got addicted to fentanyl”, highlights the dangers associated with fentanyl, how the drug spread across the country, and the impact that it has had on Canadians. Fentanyl is an opioid that is administered intravenously or by transdermal patch when prescribed by a physician. However, the street version of the drug is sold as powder or tablets, often disguised as oxycodone. Fentanyl functions by binding to opioid receptors in the brain after rapidly crossing the blood-brain barrier due to its lipid solubility. Fentanyl is a mu-opioid agonist that is 100 times more potent than morphine (DEA 2015). In addition to being an analgesic, fentanyl also has effects on the cardiorespiratory system, such as inducing respiratory depression and bradycardia (Gutstein and Akil 2006). The opioid binds to the metabotropic opioid receptors on neurons, which triggers a G protein secondary messenger system. This alters membrane permeability, allowing more potassium ions and fewer calcium ions to pass through the membrane. This results in the hyperpolarization of the membrane, inhibiting neuronal activity (Gutstein and Akil 2006). This lack of neuronal activity is what gives the drug its analgesic effects. As a tablet, fentanyl is subject to first-pass metabolism in the liver. It is metabolized primarily through N-dealkylation by CYP 3A4 and eliminated

The liver is where the metabolizing takes place in the body. Since drugs are foreign substance to the body, the liver assign chemicals to break down or metabolize those chemicals (Stevens & Smith, 2013). According to Howard (1999), opioid is metabolized by the production of both inactive and active metabolites. The modulation of opioid, is known to reduce pain relief and euphoria, but it might effect certain behaviors, including alcohol consumption (Froehlich, 1997). Opioid is metabolized in the liver. According to Stevens & Smith (2013), opioids, which have been administered are known to act at the neuronal synapses, either by acting as neurotransmitter by decreasing the transynaptic potential or by modulating the release of a neurotransmitter

The hypothesis for the experiment is that the addition of nicotine will produce a statistically significant difference in the metabolism of fish as compared to the metabolism of fish who are not exposed to nicotine, when measuring oxygen consumption to compute the metabolic rate. The null hypothesis is that there will be no effect on the measured metabolism of goldfish as a result of the addition of nicotine to their surroundings.

With heroin being such a highly addictive drug, users are often hooked after one use. With continued use, the user will begin to develop some form of tolerance to the drug. This drug tolerance can be demonstrated in  two ways; one, a regular dose of a drug has less effect than it did before; two, a greater dose of the drug is needed in order to produce the effect it did before. (citation) There are two types of tolerances: metabolic and functional. Metabolic tolerance results from changes that reduces the amount of drug getting to the action site. Functional tolerance results from changes that reduce the effectiveness of the action site.(citation)  Such problems could include fewer receptors for the opiate to bind onto and/or a decreased