What is the relationship between tolerance and receptor "desensitization"?
What will be an ideal response?
If a drug's pharmacodynamic properties result in considerably greater activation of a particular type of receptors (e.g., because the drug is an agonist at the receptors, or the drug causes more than normal amounts of the natural ligand [neurotransmitter] to be accessible to the receptors) the receptors' functional characteristics may decline (desensitization). Thus, in order to achieve the original effect of the drug, more drug must be taken to act on the remaining receptors that have not desensitized. These receptors will subsequently desensitize, so that even more drug must be taken to produce the original effect. This decrease in the drug's effectiveness results in tolerance.
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a. dopamine. c. progesterone. b. cortisol d. testosterone.
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a. opiates b. tranquilizers c. stimulants d. depressants
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A) 1 B) 4 C) 11 D) 18
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