Respiratory system, drugs affecting

Insults (due to drugs, biologies, or toxins) can cause detectable changes in function through multiple mechanisms depending on the namre of the insult, timing, route of dehvery (air or blood), duration of insult, and the initial respiratoiy health of the animal. The manifestation of the dysfunction will depend on which components of the respiratory system are affected and the compensatory mechanisms initiated. The pattern of dysfunction detected may reflect the primary response or may reflect the compensatory changes to the primary response. 

UNIT V Drugs That Affect the Respiratory System... 

Unit V has three chapters concerning drugs that affect the respiratory system. The first chapter in this unit discusses antihistamines and decongestants, the second chapter in the unit covers bronchodilators and antiasthma drugs, and the last chapter of the unit deals with antitussives, mucolytics, and expectorants. 

Barbiturates are referred to as sedative-hypnotics. These drugs will induce sleep which can lead to even deeper sedation (hypnosis) and can cause a fatal depression of the RAS affecting the respiratory system. The sleep which is encountered does not have the normal cycles of slow wave and rapid eye movement activity, so it is not always restful. However, these agents prove to be useful in anesthesia for both short and longer durations of time. Many of you may have been given thiopental prior to wisdom tooth extraction. Thiopental "wears off quickly and so the actual anesthetic for the time of the extraction is usually nitrous oxide. 

Summary of drugs affecting the respiratory system, described in Pharmacology update, pp. 450-451... 

Chapter 22 Update Drugs Affecting the Respiratory System 451... 

Symposium on Drugs Affecting the Respiratory System, 175th ACS Natl. Mtg., Anaheim, March, I978. 

As with cardiac and blood disorders, respiratory disease is relatively common in many older patients. However, there are common respiratory disorders that affect younger people as well. Although there are probably not as many diseases of the respiratory system as there are of the cardiovascular system, there are still a number of important groups of drugs that are used to treat respiratory disorders and their use can be life saving. 

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