Receptors, pharmacodynamics

AccessMedicine Print Chapter 2. Drug Receptors Pharmacodynamics... 

The principles of pharmacokinetics (discussed in this chapter) and those of pharmacodynamics (discussed in Chapter 2 Drug Receptors Pharmacodynamics Holford Sheiner, 1981) provide a framework for understanding the time course of drug effect. 

In the simplest case, drug effects are directly related to plasma concentrations, but this does not necessarily mean that effects simply parallel the time course of concentrations. Because the relationship between drug concentration and effect is not linear (recall the Emax model described in Chapter 2 Drug Receptors Pharmacodynamics), the effect will not usually be linearly proportional to the concentration. 

Postsynaptic regulation can be considered from two perspectives modulation by the prior history of activity at the primary receptor (which may up- or down-regulate receptor number or desensitize receptors see Chapter 2 Drug Receptors Pharmacodynamics) and modulation by other temporally associated events. 

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