The quantitative analysis of drug–receptor interactions- a short history.pdfVIP

Review TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences Vol.27 No.3 March 2006 The quantitative analysis of drug–receptor interactions: a short history David Colquhoun Department of Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK Pharmacology started to develop into a real quantitative several years later [3,4]. The title page of the paper that, science in 1909, when A.V. Hill derived the Langmuir arguably, started quantitative pharmacology is shown in equation in the course of his studies on nicotine and Figure 2. curare. A history of the developments since then shows Hill became an undergraduate at Trinity College in both brilliant insights and missed opportunities. It also 1905 where he began studying mathematics. He won the shows that much remains to be done. There is still no college mathematical prize in 1906 and was Third mathematical description that can describe quantitat- Wrangler (ranked third among the first class) in Part I ively the actions of agonists on G-protein-coupled of the Mathematical Tripos in 1907. But, then he switched receptors, although progress has been greater with to natural sciences and spent two more years in agonist-activated ion channels, which are much simpler. physiology, chemistry and physics to complete Part II of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1909, the year in which his first famous paper was published. The intellectual environment at Cambridge was astonishing. He attended Physics, mathematics and receptors