1.
Which of the following statements regarding CNS drug action on synaptic potentials
are correct? (Check all that apply)
A. 
A drug-induced EPSP usually makes the membrane potential less negative
B. 
An IPSP may be produced by drugs that cause opening of Cl- channels
C. 
An IPSP may be produced by drugs that cause opening of K+ channels
D. 
Most CNS drugs affect synaptic potential by activating or inhibiting NA+/K+ ATPase
E. 
All drug-induced EPSP and IPSP are very short-lasting potentials (less than 5 milliseconds)
2.
CNS drugs often act on a specific neurotransmitter system. Which of the following
statements correctly pairs the system with the drug class that mainly affects it?
A. 
Serotonergic system - Opioids
B. 
Cholinergic system - MAO inhibitors
C. 
Dopaminergic system - Phenothiazines
D. 
Noradrenergic system - Benzodiazepines
E. 
GABAergic system - Tricyclic antidepressants
3.
Which of the following statements correctly matches the CNS receptor with the
appropriate postreceptor mechanism? (Check all that apply)
A. 
M3 muscarinic - decreased NA+ conductance
B. 
Alpha-1 adrenergic - decreased Ca++ conductance
C. 
GABA A - increased Cl- conductance
D. 
Glycine r - decreased Cl- conductance
E. 
NMDA - decreased cation conductance
F. 
Beta-1 adrenergic - increased cAMP
G. 
5-HT3 - increased cation conductance
4.
Some CNS depressant drugs act on a system which is critical in maintaining tonic
inhibitory control on most other neuronal systems. Which of the following systems is
the target for those drugs?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
5.
Which the following statements related to GABA A and GABA B receptors are correct?
(Check all that apply)
A. 
GABA A receptors are G-protein coupled receptors
B. 
GABA A receptors activation leads to increased Na+ conductance
C. 
GABA B receptors activation leads to IPSP
D. 
GABA A receptors blockade leads to decreased Cl- conductance
E. 
GABA B receptors blockade leads to increased K+ conductance
6.
A 32-year-old man, recently diagnosed with partial seizure, started a treatment with
felbamate, a drug that is thought to act by blocking NMDA receptors in the brain. Which
of the following systems was most likely affected by the drug?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
G. 
7.
A 25-year-old woman presented to the psychiatric hospital describing a one year
history of anxiety. She has been feeling tense most of the time, was often irritable and
found hard to concentrate because of a great deal of distress. She was prescribed an
anxiolytic drug and a cycle of psychotherapy. Which of the following neurotransmitter
systems is most likely involved in the therapeutic action of the prescribed drug?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
8.
A 25-year-old woman was brought to the Emergency Room because of a generalized
tonic-clonic seizure. Her husband stated that his wife has been suffering from epilepsy
since childhood, but the seizures were only partially controlled by medication. Which of
the following pairs of neurotransmitters are thought to be mainly involved in seizure
disorders?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
Serotonin and acetylcholine
F. 
Acetylcholine and glutamate
9.
A 34-year-old man who is a heavy smoker started a medical assisted program to quit
smoking. Therapy included the administration of clonidine, an agonist at alpha-2
presynaptic receptors which is believed to act mainly on noradrenergic neurons in the
brain. Which of the following areas of the brain is the richest in noradrenergic neurons?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
10.
A 23-year-old woman presented to his physician complaining of a distressing and
behavior. For the past months she has experienced an irresistible urge to check that
everything was in a certain order at home and found hard to get out of the house
because she needed to control that the door was locked again and again. She admitted
that she had an irrational fear that things were not perfect. Which of the following
neurotransmitter has been most consistently implicated in this disorder?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
11.
Receptors located on CNS nerve terminals can be autoreceptors or heteroreceptors.
Which of the following descriptions refers to heteroreceptors?
(Check all that apply)
A. 
5-HT1A receptors on nerve terminals of most neurons of Raphe Nucleus
B. 
M2 cholinergic receptors on the motor nerve terminals
C. 
Alpha-2 receptors on nerve terminals of most neurons of Locus Ceruleus
D. 
D2 receptors on nerve terminals of nigrostriatal pathway
E. 
GABA A receptors on nerve terminals of cortical pyramidal neurons
F. 
Glutamate receptors on nerve terminals mesolimbic pathway
12.
A 45-year-old woman, admitted to a psychiatric hospital, has been standing
immobile for several hours with one of his arm stretched upwards. The patient was
mute, unresponsive and did not appear aware of her surrounding. When placed in
another awkward posture the patient maintained that posture for a long time without
apparent distress. .Which of the following neurotransmitter has been consistently
implicated in the patient’s syndrome?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
13.
A 31-year-old woman seeks evaluation in a psychiatric clinic. She reports episodic
feeling of sadness since adolescence, but she has noticed a gradual worsening in her
mood over the past three weeks. She has depressed mood most of the day, has lost
interest in any leisure activity, has difficulty sleeping, poor appetite, low energy, feeling
of guilt and recurrent though of death. Which of the following pairs of neurotransmitters
are most likely involved in the patient’s disorder?
A. 
B. 
Norepinephrine and glutamate
C. 
Glutamate and acetylcholine
D. 
Serotonin and norepinephrine
E. 
Serotonin and acetylcholine
F. 
Acetylcholine and norepinephrine
14.
The following table shows the relative activities of five new drugs, which are able to
increase the availability of specific CNS neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft.
Examine the table and identify which one of the drugs A, B, C, D, E, is most likely to be
effective in the treatment of major obsessive-compulsive disorders. (+ represents the
degree of increased availability; - represents negligible effect)
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
15.
A 34-year-old man was brought to the emergency room after a serious car accident.
He begun to experience sever pain throughout the body. Which of the following triplets
of neurotransmitters most likely acted to decrease pain signaling in this patient?
A. 
Norepinephrine, GABA, glutamate
B. 
Glutamate, norepinephrine, opioid peptides
C. 
Histamine, acetylcholine, GABA
D. 
Histamine, acetylcholine, opioid peptides
E. 
Glutamate, GABA, serotonin
F. 
Opioid peptides, norepinephrine, serotonin
16.
A 57-year-old woman, suffering from initial insomnia, was prescribed a hypnotic drug
that increases the activity of a major neurotransmitter system in the brain. Which of the
following neurotransmitter systems is most likely involved in the therapeutic action of
that drug?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
F. 
17.
A 76-year-old man, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was prescribed a drug that
increases the central levels of a neurotransmitter thought to play an important role in
cognitive functions. Which of the following neurotransmitters was most likely increased
by that drug?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
18.
A 18-year-old boy was brought to the emergency room by a friend after being found
acting crazy in a discotheque. The man admitted he had smoked an “angel dust”, the
street name for phencyclidine. Which of the following neurotransmitters seems mainly
involved in the mechanism of action of that drug?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
19.
A 28-year-old man with a long history of poly-drug abuse states he feels an intense
euphoric sensation every time he self administered any illicit drug. Which of the
following neurotransmitters, released in the nucleus accumbens, is thought to mediate
the rewarding effect of most abused drugs?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E. 
20.
A 79-year-old woman complained of sharp headache in the temporal area. Fifteen
minutes later she lost consciousness and was brought to the Emergency Room. A CT
scan showed a diffuse brain hemorrhage and the diagnosis of left middle cerebral artery
stoke was made. Which of the following neurotransmitters has been implicated as a
cause of cell death following stroke?
A. 
B. 
C. 
D. 
E.