• Question: What is a receptor pharmacologist?

    Asked by 704prmc27 to Richard on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Prince

      Richard Prince answered on 23 Jun 2015:


      Hi 704,
      A receptor pharmacologist is someone who investigates how drugs interact with receptors.
      Receptors are proteins that receive messages that are being sent to a cell and then trigger the cell to respond somehow. The messages are usually small chemicals – neurotransmitters and hormones. These signals are key to how the nervous system works, and when they go wrong, you can have serious consequences. One neurotransmitter, dopamine, is involved in both schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. In schizophrenia there is too much dopamine being produced and in PD, too little. You can treat schizophrenia by blocking the receptor that dopamine acts at. The drugs that do this are called antipsychotics.
      I spent most of my research career working on two receptors. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and the GABAA receptor. I’ve described the nicotinic receptor in my profile, so I won’t repeat it here. The GABAA receptor is really important too. It is the target of many anti epilepsy drugs and many sedatives and anaesthetics. I’m quite interested in epilepsy because my daughter has seizures. One of my dogs does too!
      Best wishes
      Richard

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