Drug-Receptor Interaction 
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Receptors
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Specificity | |
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Drugs: Agonists |
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Drugs: Antagonists |
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Specificity
Chemical messengers interact with receptors by forming chemical bonds with them. Because chemical messengers and receptors are three-dimensional objects they have distinct shapes.
The shapes that fit best together allow the most bonds to form. In this way a receptor is able to distinguish between a chemical messenger - the true signal, and a similar compound that fits less well.
We refer to this as specificity. Consequently epinephrine binds with adrenoceptors, histamine binds with histamine receptors and so on.
