Agonist-Antagonist
Encyclopedia
In pharmacology the term agonist-antagonist is used to refer to a drug which exhibits some properties of an agonist
Agonist
An agonist is a chemical that binds to a receptor of a cell and triggers a response by that cell. Agonists often mimic the action of a naturally occurring substance...

 (a substance that fully activates the neuronal receptor that it attaches to) and some properties of an antagonist (a substance that attaches to a receptor but does not activate it or if it displaces an agonist at that receptor it seemingly deactivates it thereby reversing the effect of the agonist). The best known agonists and antagonists are opioids; morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

 is an agonist to opioid receptors while naloxone
Naloxone
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist drug developed by Sankyo in the 1960s. Naloxone is a drug used to counter the effects of opiate overdose, for example heroin or morphine overdose. Naloxone is specifically used to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory...

(Narcan) is an antagonist.
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