Drugs that target receptors

Drugs that target other sites of platelet action include thromboxane synthetase inhibitors, serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT2) receptor blockers, and thromboxane A2 receptor blockers, in addition to cyclooxygenase inhibitors and prostaglandin analogues. 

Messenger targets drugs that target neurotransmitters and their receptors (chapter 4)... 

Platelet activation by ADP and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a key player in hemostasis and thrombosis, Several receptors are involved, and there are a number of drugs that target these receptors (I). The P2XI receptor is an ATP-gated channel but its role is not yet well defined. 

Another point of interest is that the brain expresses more of the total genetic information in its DNA than does any other organ, perhaps 10-20 times as much. Thus, in addition to the metabolic and maintenance machinery shared by most cell types, neurons contain many unique macromolecules, including enzymes, ion channels, neurotransmitters, and receptors that are not found in other cells. Drugs that target these sites produce selective changes in nervous system activities that are directly related to altered behavior. In some cases the effect is desired while in others this is obviously not the case. 

The first generation of drugs that targeted other steroid receptors was found by a similar history from natural sources. Estrone was isolated in 1929 as the first natural estrogenic hormone independently by the chemists E. A. Doisy and A. Butenandt from the urine of pregnant women, and its chemical structure was elucidated 1932 by A. Butenandt [14]. In 1938, H. H. Inhoffen achieved for the first time the synthesis of estradiol from cholesterol (Scheme 1.2). The first synthesis of ethinyl-estradiol, which has an improved oral bioavailability, was published in 1938 by H. H. Inhoffen and W. Hohlweg [15]. This discovery would later become one of the cornerstones of modern female fertility control and, even today, ethinyl-estradiol is an important component of many oral contraceptives. 

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