Pharmacodynamics: receptors, dose-response, agonists and antagonists
Receptor types, affinity, efficacy and potency, the dose-response curve, full, partial and inverse agonists, competitive, non-competitive and irreversible antagonism, spare receptors, therapeutic index, and tolerance, with the clinical cases Paper 1 uses.
Tier 1Medical sciences concept
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Pharmacodynamics is what the drug does to the body. Pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, clearance) is what the body does to the drug.
- Affinity is how tightly a drug binds. Efficacy is how much response it produces once bound. Potency combines both and is read from the EC50.
- A competitive antagonist shifts the dose-response curve right. An irreversible or non-competitive antagonist lowers the maximum.
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Sources
- Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (14th ed.)McGraw Hill (Brunton and Knollmann, 2023), 2023
- Rang & Dale's Pharmacology (10th ed.)Elsevier (Ritter et al., 2023), 2023
- Australian Medicines HandbookAU/NZAustralian Medicines Handbook Pty Ltd, 2026
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
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