The emergence of the drug receptor theory

Abstract

Today, the concept of specific receptors for drugs and transmitters lies at the very heart of pharmacology. Less than one hundred years ago, this novel idea met with considerable resistance in the scientific community. To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Newport Langley, one of the founders of the receptor concept, we highlight his most important observations, and those of Paul Ehrlich and Alfred Joseph Clark, who similarly helped to establish the receptor theory of drug action.

Caenorhabditis Elegans Functional Genomics in Drug Discovery: Expanding Paradigms

“…By 1870, Avogadro's atomic hypothesis had been confirmed and a Periodic Table of the elements was established. In the following years, Paul Ehrlich and John Newport Langley proposed a link between drugs and their action on specific components in tissues (Maehle et al, 2002). In 1907, Paul Ehrlich postulated the existence of 'chemoreceptors' for drugs, which led to our modern understanding of drug action.…”

Medicinal Chemistry and the Pharmacy Curriculum

“…Research on enzyme specificity (lock-and-key theory) by Fischer in 1894 and Henry's hypothesis on enzymesubstrate complex formation in 1903 are recognized as key advancements in the principles of drug action and modern medicinal chemistry. 9 Grimm's and Erlenmeyer's concepts of isosterism and bioisoterism (1929)(1930)(1931) also had a tremendous impact on the understanding of structure activity relationship (SAR) of drugs and development of modern medicinal chemistry. 7 Other notable advancements in understanding of drug action and design that were made in the mid to late 20 th Medicinal chemistry is defined as an interdependent mature science that is a combination of applied (medicine) and basic (chemistry) sciences.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] While drug development and medicinal chemistry are purely scientific, the pharmacy profession deals with the art of preparing and dispensing as well as providing optimal pharmaceutical care with therapeutic agents. In pharmacy, the hallmark of the new millennium has been the tremendous advancements made in the area of pharmacogenomics, whereby dosages of medications are tailored to individual patients based on specific genomic patterns, polymorphisms, and therapeutic responses to select drugs.…”

Métaphores, nomenclature et nouveaux paradigmes de signalisation par les récepteurs couplés aux protéines G

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Éditorial> Bien que le concept de récepteurs membranaires date de la fin du XIX e et du début du XX e siècle, avec les travaux de Ehrlich, Langley, Alhquist et d'autres [1], et que l'identification d'une sous-famille de récepteurs interagissant avec des protéines liant les nucléotides guanylés (protéines G) remonte aux années 1960 [2], l'étude des récepteurs couplés aux protéines G (RCPG) demeure plus actuelle que jamais. Les RCPG, qui sont la cible de plus de 30 % des médicaments prescrits, continuent de nous révéler de nouveaux aspects de leur mode de fonctionnement, ce qui laisse présager qu'ils seront, pour de nombreuses années encore, des candidats de choix pour le développement de nouveaux médicaments, plus actifs et adaptés à de nouvelles indications cliniques.

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