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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by johnnyj on April 18, 2007, at 19:52:56
Can someone explain those and why would one be better than the other? From what I have read one is better for OCD and one could make it worse? I don't really understand this. Thank you
johnj
Posted by Racer on April 18, 2007, at 23:05:26
In reply to Agonist/Antagonist Explanation?, posted by johnnyj on April 18, 2007, at 19:52:56
Agonist, antagonist, protagonist -- they have to do with action. All from the same root as agony, not that that's really relevant to this...
An agonist keeps something happening, and antagonist prevents it from happening. In drugs, that usually means it prevents a chemical from linking with a receptor.
Whether they're good, bad, or indifferent depends on more than just what they're called -- for some disorders, having an antagonist for one type of receptor might be good, but an agonist would be good at another sort of receptor. Does that make sense? So, say you have schizophrenia. Most antipsychotics are dopamine antagonists, which would reduce the amount of dopamine activity in your CNS. But maybe you have depression, instead, in which case maybe a medication which INcreases the activity of one neurochemical or another might work better. So, it's all more complex than agonist/antagonist is good/bad.
Hope that helps.
Posted by crenshaw387 on April 21, 2007, at 2:41:46
In reply to Re: Agonist/Antagonist Explanation?, posted by Racer on April 18, 2007, at 23:05:26
there are also many of them that have an agonist affect on some neurotransmitters or receptors while haveing an antagonistic effect on others.
This is the end of the thread.
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