As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, it is essential for you to have a strong background in foundational neuroscience. In order to diagnose and treat patients, you must not only understand the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders but also how medications for these disorders impact the central nervous system. These concepts of foundational neuroscience can be challenging to understand. Therefore, this Discussion is designed to encourage you to think through these concepts, develop a rationale for your thinking, and deepen your understanding by interacting with your colleagues.

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For this Discussion, review the Learning Resources and reflect on the concepts of foundational neuroscience as they might apply to your role as the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in prescribing medications for patients.

By Day 3 of Week 2

Post a response to each of the following:

1. Explain the agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of psychopharmacologic agents, including how partial and inverse agonist functionality may impact the efficacy of psychopharmacologic treatments.
2. Compare and contrast the actions of g couple proteins and ion gated channels.
3. Explain how the role of epigenetics may contribute to pharmacologic action.
4. Explain how this information may impact the way you prescribe medications to patients. Include a specific example of a situation or case with a patient in which the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner must be aware of the medication’s action.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

Solution:

An agonist involves any drug that can trigger a certain brain receptor, therefore allowing the drug to cause its full effect. A partial agonist denotes any drug that serves as an agonist though it cannot cause a full activation of the brain receptor. In this case, the receptor may require a certain degree of activation. On the other hand, antagonist drugs tend to block the brain receptors, thus preventing any potential binding to the agonist. Heroin is perhaps an ideal example of an agonist when considering opioids drugs. Contrary, Naloxone can serve as an antagonist as it can prevent the receptors from binding with the heroin and thus reversing its effects.  In this line, the pharmacological treatment for Heroin involves partial agonists such as Buprenorphine. It triggers partial binding to opioid receptors, thus reducing cravings, and withdrawal symptoms.

Ion Gated Channels (IGCs) and G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are essential components of postsynaptic receptors. IGCs also known as ligand-gated ion channels are grouped into two main domains. The first group serves to bind neurotransmitters (extracellular) while the other domain function to create the ion channel. The G-couple consists of the most prevalent family membrane proteins within the human genome that are stimulated by a range of systematic diverse ligands (Ahmad, & Dalziel, 2020). A total of seven distinct protein portions convey signals for binding sites in neurotransmitters, hence prompting therapeutic drug interactions. When the drug contacts the receptor sites, a significant partial blocking of the neurotransmitters…Please click the icon below to purchase full answer at only $10