![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by janetlee on December 2, 2006, at 17:49:38
Guys,
It's obvious that a lot of you are very intelligent about scientific data, etc., but remember, not everyone here is savvy as regards to medical lingo. When you talk about these studies done on supplements and "antagonists" and yada-yada-yada, remember that ones that are needing help don't necessarily understand it! please, where you can, put it into laymen terms. I feel like Fred Sanford when the white cop used to come around and say stuff. Fred always had to look to the black cop to know what in the heck the white one had just said! I don't have a "black cop" though to decipher it for me! :)
Thanks,
janet
Posted by madeline on December 2, 2006, at 19:37:29
In reply to It's All Japanese to Me!, posted by janetlee on December 2, 2006, at 17:49:38
Do you have a specific question that you would like sorted out?
The easy way to understand what an antagonist is is to understand what an agonist is.
I teach this stuff, so if I sound pedantic I apologize in advance.
But let's look at histamine. When you have allergies or a cold the body releases histamine (the agonist). Histamine then binds to receptors (specialized proteins on the surface of cells) in the nose and tells the blood vessels in the nose to dilate causing nasal congestion, and tells the nose to ramp up mucous production causing a runny nose.
When you take an anti-histamine (the antagonist), you block histamine's interaction with it's receptors and guess what? The nose doesn't even know that histamine is around. So, no nasal congestion, no runny nose.
So an agonist (histamine) interacts with histamine receptors and that causes the symptoms of a cold.
An antagonist (anti-histamine) BLOCKS the interaction of histamine with it's receptors, so no cold symptoms.
An antagonist BLOCKS the action of an agonist.
Dopamine antagonists block the action of dopamine, so the body doesn't even know dopamine is there.
etc...
Any other questions just ask.
Posted by janetlee on December 3, 2006, at 22:03:51
In reply to Re: It's All Japanese to Me!, posted by madeline on December 2, 2006, at 19:37:29
> Do you have a specific question that you would like sorted out?
>
> The easy way to understand what an antagonist is is to understand what an agonist is.
>
> I teach this stuff, so if I sound pedantic I apologize in advance.
>
> But let's look at histamine. When you have allergies or a cold the body releases histamine (the agonist). Histamine then binds to receptors (specialized proteins on the surface of cells) in the nose and tells the blood vessels in the nose to dilate causing nasal congestion, and tells the nose to ramp up mucous production causing a runny nose.
>
> When you take an anti-histamine (the antagonist), you block histamine's interaction with it's receptors and guess what? The nose doesn't even know that histamine is around. So, no nasal congestion, no runny nose.
>
> So an agonist (histamine) interacts with histamine receptors and that causes the symptoms of a cold.
>
> An antagonist (anti-histamine) BLOCKS the interaction of histamine with it's receptors, so no cold symptoms.
>
> An antagonist BLOCKS the action of an agonist.
>
> Dopamine antagonists block the action of dopamine, so the body doesn't even know dopamine is there.
>
> etc...
>
> Any other questions just ask.Hi, Madeline!
If you're not a teacher, you should be! :)
Thanks for the info!
janet
Posted by MM on December 6, 2006, at 1:40:31
In reply to Re: It's All Japanese to Me!, posted by madeline on December 2, 2006, at 19:37:29
> Do you have a specific question that you would like sorted out?
>
> The easy way to understand what an antagonist is is to understand what an agonist is.
>
> I teach this stuff, so if I sound pedantic I apologize in advance.
>
> But let's look at histamine. When you have allergies or a cold the body releases histamine (the agonist). Histamine then binds to receptors (specialized proteins on the surface of cells) in the nose and tells the blood vessels in the nose to dilate causing nasal congestion, and tells the nose to ramp up mucous production causing a runny nose.
>
> When you take an anti-histamine (the antagonist), you block histamine's interaction with it's receptors and guess what? The nose doesn't even know that histamine is around. So, no nasal congestion, no runny nose.
>
> So an agonist (histamine) interacts with histamine receptors and that causes the symptoms of a cold.
>
> An antagonist (anti-histamine) BLOCKS the interaction of histamine with it's receptors, so no cold symptoms.
>
> An antagonist BLOCKS the action of an agonist.
>
> Dopamine antagonists block the action of dopamine, so the body doesn't even know dopamine is there.
>
> etc...
>
> Any other questions just ask.So, does an antagonist cause the body to make more of whatever it's blocking? I think I'm confusing re-uptake inhibitors with antagonists or something...
Posted by madeline on December 6, 2006, at 7:05:25
In reply to Re: It's All Japanese to Me!, posted by janetlee on December 3, 2006, at 22:03:51
I do teach actually. If you have any other questions just ask.
Maddie
Posted by madeline on December 6, 2006, at 7:30:28
In reply to Re: It's All Japanese to Me! » madeline, posted by MM on December 6, 2006, at 1:40:31
"So, does an antagonist cause the body to make more of whatever it's blocking? I think I'm confusing re-uptake inhibitors with antagonists or something..."
Okay, the question you are asking is a very complicated one. Frankly, antagonists rarely just sit on the receptor and block its interaction with agonist, but let's talk about reuptake inhibitors.
Specifically, let's look at the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain, that means it is a hormone that lets brain cells talk and listen to each other.
When one brain cell (the talker) has something to say, it releases serotonin and another brain cell (the listener) interacts with serotonin and does what the talking cell says to do. The listening cell binds serotonin via serotonin receptors on its surface.
When the listening cell has processed the message they let the serotonin go from the receptors and - here's the kicker - the talking cell picks the serotonin back up.
Picking the serotonin back up is called "serotonin reuptake".
Alright, one of the fundamental theories of depression is that the depressed brain is deficient in serotonin so the listening cell doesn't get a clear message from the talking cell.
So SSRI's block the reuptake of serotonin by the talking cell thus keeping serotonin around longer and at a higher concentration than without the drug.
The theory is that this makes the signal "clearer" and allows the listening cell to more effectively process what it is supposed to do.
What makes SSRI's different from the classical antagonist is that they don't bind to the serotonin receptor on the listening cell and BLOCK the action of serotonin there.
They bind to the reuptake receptors on the talking cell and BLOCK the reuptake of serotonin.
SSRI's are antagonists, but they don't block at the agonist receptor for serotonin.
The principle is the same for a lot of other reuptake inhibitors for other neurotransmitters.
Hope this clears this up.
Maddie
Posted by MM on December 9, 2006, at 3:16:53
In reply to Re: It's All Japanese to Me! » MM, posted by madeline on December 6, 2006, at 7:30:28
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this, Madeline. It's much appreciated.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Alternative | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.