BRAINCAKEDrugs
Many drugs, both medicines and recreational drugs, work by affecting synaptic transmission. Because transmission at a synapse involves several separate steps, a drug can act at any one of them.
Drugs are often described by their effect on receptors:
• an agonist has a shape similar to the neurotransmitter, binds to its receptors and activates them, mimicking the neurotransmitter
• an antagonist binds to the receptors but does not activate them, blocking the neurotransmitter from binding
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All 38 lessons in Mammalian Nervous System · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics