2: Drug Receptors

Question 1

affinity

Answer 1

the attraction between a drug and a receptor

Question 2

selectivity

Answer 2

drugs that affect only one type of cell or tissue and produce a very specific physiological response

Question 3

agonists

Answer 3

drugs that bind to a receptor and initiate a change in the cell’s function

Question 4

antagonists

Answer 4

drugs that bind to a receptor and do not change the cell’s function

Question 5

partial agonists

Answer 5

drugs that occupy receptors but do not evoke a maximal response; they have high affinity, but they do not completely activate the receptor that they bind to

Question 6

mixed agonist-antagonists

Answer 6

drugs that stimulate one receptor subtype and block another type simultaneously (can act as both)

Question 7

receptor desensitization

Answer 7

overstimulation of a cell by a drug that can lead to a decrease in the number of receptors available; brief and transient process

Question 8

down-regulation

Answer 8

slow process in which the number of receptors available becomes diminished over time

Question 9

non-receptor drugs

Answer 9

some drugs exert their effects without interaction with a receptor