NURS_6630 Foundational Neuroscience Discussion

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.

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.

By Day 6 of Week 2

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one of the following ways:

• If your colleagues’ posts influenced your understanding of these concepts, be sure to share how and why. Include additional insights you gained.
• If you think your colleagues might have misunderstood these concepts, offer your alternative perspective and be sure to provide an explanation for them. Include resources to support your perspective.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 2 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 of Week 2 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 2

To Participate in this Discussion:

Week 2 Discussion

Foundational Neuroscience Sample Paper

The Psychiatric mental health practitioners and the staff are supposed to have a very strong foundational neuroscience. The knowledge is useful to help them to diagnose and even treat the treatments of the different psychiatric disorders that are reported. Psychiatric mental health practitioners help in the medications in the process of the treatments of the mental health disorder as well as their impacts on the nervous systems at large. This paper will help to explain the spectrum in the action of the agonist to the antagonist, then compare the works of the ion gated ways and channels to the g couple proteins as well as the roles of the epigenetics that are used in the pharmacologic works and actions.

Most of the involved agents of pharmacological agents work through either being agonist being antagonist receptors that are used to responding to the chemical messengers that are included in the process of neurotransmitters. The agonist is used to bind to the receptors as well as activate the receptor and hence leading to the production of the effects in the cell or the involved biological response (Stefanska & MacEwan, 2015). The pharmacologic agonist binds and even activate the receptors that are called neurotransmitter in the brain like the dopamine receptors which is involved in the schizophrenia.

On the other side, the antagonist will serve by binding to the receptors and then blocking the involved receptors for binding to the agonist without ant biological responses and their effects on the cells. The antagonist stabilizes the receptors which are in the inactive state which is also the same states to the receptors states that are the agonist absence. The other ion gated channels as well as the g couple proteins that are used to represent the two major groups of the receptors of the neurotransmitters (Stahl & Stahl, 2013).

The two groups show the signals transductions mechanism. The ion gated channels are termed as the ion channels that are open while they are responding to the ligand binding. Once the ion gated makes the channels open then the membrane will depolarize and then activating the voltage hated ion that is on the channels to open. When that happens it will make the ions to flow through the involved membranes and then activate the action potential progresses so that to help transmit down the neuron.

While in that activated state, the ions gated channels receptors help to induce changes at a very fast speed within a millisecond in the involved postsynaptic membrane permeability and even the involved potential. The G protein as then the cell surface receptors which are used to share common signaling methods and the structure. All the involved G proteins will bind to the nucleotide guanosine triphosphate (GTP) will hydrolyze and form the guanine diphosphate (GDP).

The GDP will bind to the G protein is the action when the G proteins that are attached to the GDP is inactive. The postsynaptic response that is used by the G protein and the activations which occurs in a slower time than the ion gated channels, this occurs at the time that is in second or even minutes. These are since the G proteins receptors will help to regulate the closing as well as the opening of the ion channels in the indirect ways. The g protein may use the protein kinase so that to establish the sequence that will help to inactivate or activate.

Epigenetics is the genetic data that is always above or even beyond the information that is usually coded by the genetic code. Epigenetics signature has been used to underlie the developmental, diseases and the healthy human changes physiologically which are used to regulate the developments as well as the maintenance of the disease and the phenotype of the healthy cells (Stahl, 2000). Epigenetics regulation that is done by the gene activity is used in the maintenance of the normal cells phenotypic activity and it is used to play a very significant role in the diseases and their developments like Alzheimer’s disease as well as schizophrenia.

There are new other drugs that are used to regulate the epigenetic process and the mechanism so that to help to treat the illness in human beings. For example in schizophrenia the treatments use the antipsychotic drugs which are used to reduce the levels of dopamine in the human brains, this helps to indicate the ways the drugs are used to alter the epigenetic homeostasis and hence inducing the pharmacogenomic effects.

The knowledge that is learned about the concepts of foundational neuroscience will help in the prescription of the medication to the patients. The knowledge that is learned will boost the understanding of the mechanisms of the actions of the pharmacotherapy agents used in the treatments of the involved mental disorders (Hnasko & Edwards, 2012). The example is the treatments of Alzheimer’s disease, the other mental health professional and the practitioners should be aware of the actions of the antipsychotics, cholinesterase inhibitors, and antipsychotics.

When we have an understanding of the mechanisms the actions of the medications are very vitals in the entire process of the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as well as the symptoms of psychotic which comes with the aggressiveness that is given as they block dopamine. The individual with better attention, the memory as well as then it will help to moderate the severe case of Alzheimer’s disease. I will like to look at the issue of the cholinesterase inhibitors with the Namenda that are used to regular he involved activities of the glutamate, which is the chemical that is used in the processing of the information their storage and the retrieval.

References

Stahl, S. M., & Stahl, S. M. (2013). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: neuroscientific basis and practical applications. Cambridge university press.

Stefanska, B., & MacEwan, D. J. (2015). Epigenetics and pharmacology. British journal of  pharmacology, 172(11), 2701-2704.

Stahl, S. M. (2000). Neuroscientific basis and practical applications. Essential  psychopharmacology, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York, 316-317.

Hnasko, T. S., & Edwards, R. H. (2012). Neurotransmitter corelease: mechanism and  physiological role. Annual review of physiology, 74, 225-243.