Abstract
Langley (1906) and Ehrlich (1913) are generally credited with the formulation of the concept of a receptor. They suggested that the pharmacological action of drugs resulted from their physicochemical interaction with a defined site. At that time this principle was revolutionary and presaged the development of modern pharmacology, starting with the classification of different drug receptors (see, for example, Dale, 1914) and the quantitation of drug-receptor interactions (Gaddum, 1936; Clark, 1937; Arunlakshana and Schild, 1957). Until relatively recently, however, whole tissue assay systems provided the only means of investigating receptors and their function: nothing was known of their molecular properties and little of the mechanisms by which the binding of a drug to a receptor is transduced into a physiological response.
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© 1981 Institute of Biology Endowment Trust Fund
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Birdsall, N.J.M. (1981). Introduction. In: Birdsall, N.J.M. (eds) Drug Receptors and Their Effectors. Biological Council. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05555-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05555-5_1
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