Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each drug action as an agonist or an antagonist.
Groups: Agonist · Antagonist
- A drug that occupies a receptor without activating it
- An SSRI that blocks serotonin reuptake, leaving more active in the synapse
- A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter and activates its receptor
- A drug that blocks a receptor so the transmitter cannot act
Hints
- Judge by the NET effect on the transmitter, not by whether the drug 'blocks' something.
- Blocking reuptake leaves MORE transmitter working - that enhances its effect, so it is an agonist.
Show the answer
Agonist: A drug that mimics a neurotransmitter and activates its receptor, An SSRI that blocks serotonin reuptake, leaving more active in the synapse
Antagonist: A drug that occupies a receptor without activating it, A drug that blocks a receptor so the transmitter cannot act
Why
Agonists enhance a transmitter's effect (mimicking it, or an SSRI leaving more serotonin around); antagonists block it. The SSRI is the trap: it 'blocks' reuptake yet BOOSTS serotonin, making it a functional agonist.
Practise Synaptic Transmission
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Psychology I is free to start.
More questions on Synaptic Transmission
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- An agonist and an antagonist can both bind the same receptor with equal affinity. What distinguishes them,…
- Select every statement that is TRUE about synaptic transmission.
- Blocking the reuptake of serotonin will tend to DECREASE serotonin's effect on the receiving neuron.
- Order the events of chemical synaptic transmission.
- The action potential does not jump across the synaptic cleft. What crosses instead?