Alcohol Drugs and Behavior Lectur - October 17th, 2003 

I'm Uncle Pumpkin...

Exam next Friday!!!!!! (As in the 24th)

Guest Lecturer on Monday - Probably Janelle.

STIMULANTS is the talk of today!

They produce stimulation and are known as "Uppers"
they increase motor activity (usually)
may increase mental activity as well.

Cocaine Crack Amphetamines Methamphetamines, etc...

Some are naturally occuring - Cocaine is from coco leaves

Some South American Indian tribes chewed it before battle 
(thinking it would incease their battle-worthiness)

It was then brought over to Europe and was thought of as a fashionable drug

It can be administered through the mouth and the nose.

Best way to get it into your system is through nose or inhalation.

They were used for medicinal purposes for a long time as an anesthetic.
(Especially eyes.)

Sigmeund Freud was addicted to Cocaine.

Cocaine as chewed is very basic in Ph

Other classes of stimulants are non-naturally occuring substances

I.E. The phetamines... they are man made compounds. They are known as
"go pills" due to the way they make you stay awake and active.

Doug's Daughter won her soccer game yesterday 6-0


This shows both that Cocaine is a stimulant  and increases sensitization
I
I			0
I		0		
I    	  				X= Saline 0=Cocaine
I           0
I    0
I
I
I		 X	X
I    X      X     
I
I----------------------------------

Y Axis = Movement, X Axis = Time

A way to increase the effect of the cocaine is to heat it (Free Basing) 
which is seperating the hydrochloric acid from the cocaine molecules.

This creates a highly volatile mixture which can explode.

Crack starts the same way but is mixed with baking powder so the water
molecules are taken out as well which results in a crystal format.

What causes an addiction for an individual to Cocaine?

Some people can take it on a "casual basis"
Animals the same way - just take a little 

Some people say that the very first time they took it - they were hooked
Animals represent this as well - getting hooked

So it appears that they are individual differences in how getting hooked
occurs - however not much is known about that.

If something is addictive. it supresses Nucleus Acumbines neural activity.

Biologically this occured by...the release of dopamine to that area!

(with alcohol we didn't talk about this due to the fact that the mechanisms
are slightly different)

Stimulants are very straight forward.

More dopamine in the synapse results from different things....
"Less Re-Uptake" so the modulation in the Re-Uptake we can change
the amount of dopamine in the synapse.

That is the mechanism of action for cocaine.

*>>>>> Cocaine blocks the re-uptake of Dopamine out of the synapse

Doug is tap dancing.

This results in the increase in dopamine and the ability of the drug to be 
addictive.

Another thing that can keep dopamine in the synapse area...
You can block the breakdown enzymes (this is more of an antidepressant 
medicine type of action)

Another thing that helps maintain or increase higher dopamine receptor 
complexes is that... 

The way Methamp's and Amph's work is similar to cociaine....
it blocks the re-uptake. However it also cuases the channels to become
somewhat leaky.