Agonist

Image:Agonist.png

for muscle type see Agonist (muscle)

An agonist is a substance that binds to a receptorand triggers a response in the cell. An agonist is the opposite of an antagonistin the sense that while an antagonist also binds to the receptor, it fails to activate the receptor and actually blocks it from activation by agonists. A partial agonist activates a receptor but does not cause as much of a physiological change as does a full agonist. The receptors of the human body work by being stimulated or inhibited by natural (such as hormonesand neurotransmitters) or synthetic (such as drugs) agonists and antagonists. To see how an agonist may activate a receptor see this link. Recently a novel theory called Functional Selectivityhas been proposed that broadens the conventional definition of pharmacology.

Etymology

Stems from the Late Latin word agnista, 'contender', from the Greek agonistis, 'contestant', from agon, 'contest'. An agonist is a chemical contestant or contender.

See also

• Inverse agonist
• Receptor antagonistca:Agonista

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agonist Wikipedia article Agonist.