CNS depressant drugs are the group of drugs that slow down brain activity to normal by lowering the neurotransmitters levels and by doing so they treat may diseases or they manage the various brain conditions.
Majorly CNS depressants includes-
•Sedatives- These drugs are used in the treatment of anxiety.
•Hypnotics- They are used to treat insomnia as these drugs induces sleep.
•Anti Epileptic Drugs- Drugs that are used in epilepsy
•Drugs for Anesthesia
Talking about neurotransmitters,
Excitatory neurotransmitters include Glutamate,Dopamine,nor adrenaline,acetyl choline,serotonin,histamine
Inhibitory neurotransmitter like GABA.GABA causes entry of chloride (Cl-) in brain via chloride channels then it reacts with Na+ and neutralizes it.Hence it finishes the brain excitation which is caused due to increased excitatory neurotransmitters.
Some other uses of CNS depressants drugs-
•They decreases sleep latency
•They improves Quality & duration of sleep.
Sleep latency also know as sleep onset latency (SOL) means the time taken by the person to go from fully awake stage to sleep stage.When due to any cause SOL is increased then patient complains that he is unable to fall sleep i.e it is taking a very long time to sleep like he have closed the light of his room at 9pm and is trying to sleep but he is unable to do so and it takes a very long time like now it’s 1am and he have fallen to sleep so this indicates the increased SOL.
Quality of sleep means the person is sleeping without being awakening between again and again like sometimes patient complains that he has fallen for sleep but after some time he suddenly wakes up from his sleep and this occurs several time in night due to which he have a non refreshing morning.
Duration of sleep means how long do the person sleep.Like sometime patient complains that he have slept at 3am and was awake at 6am itself and this happens daily or frequently,so this means that something is wrong with the body and brain of the person and it needs to be checked and treated.
Mostly CNS depressants, increases activity of GABA like-
A) Barbiturates group– It includes drug like
•Phenobarbitone
•Thiopentone
B) Benzodiazepines (BZDs) group- It include drugs like-
•Diazepam
•Lorazepam
•Clonazepam
•Nitrazepam
•Fluzepam
•Metazolam
•Alprazolam
•Chlordiazepoxide
C) Non Benzodiazepines (Non – BZDs) group- It includes drugs like-
•Zopiclone
•Zaleplon
•Zolpidem
This is a basic understanding about CNS Depressants,will be talking about these CNS depressant drugs in some depth in our upcoming post.
Contributor- Medico Anant Singh Nanda