Types of drugs

Drugs used in medicine generally are divided into classes or groups on the basis of their uses, their chemical structures, or their mechanisms of action. These different classification systems can be confusing, since each drug may be included in multiple classes. The distinctions, however, are useful particularly for physicians and researchers. For example, when a patient experiences an adverse reaction to a drug, these classification systems allow a physician to readily identify an agent that has comparable efficacy but a different structure or mechanism of action. Likewise, knowledge of a drug’s chemical structure facilitates the search for new and potentially more effective and safer medicines.

The following sections provide a general overview of some major types of drugs, grouped according to the disease or human tissues or organ systems on which they act. This is not intended as a comprehensive list, given that the number of drugs that have been developed is vast and research into them is ongoing. Additional information, however, can be found in separate articles on the different classes of drugs and on certain individual drugs themselves.

Antimicrobial drugs

Antimicrobial drugs can be used for either prophylaxis (prevention) or treatment of disease caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, or helminths. These agents generally are of three types: (1) synthetic chemicals, (2) chemical substances or metabolic products made by microorganisms, and (3) chemical substances derived from plants. Antimicrobial agents often are effective against a specific microorganism or group of closely related microorganisms, and they often do not affect host (e.g., human) cells. A number of antimicrobial compounds, however, produce significant toxic effects in humans, but they are used because they have a favourable chemotherapeutic index (the amount required for a therapeutic effect is below the amount that causes a toxic effect). The phenomenon of resistance, in which infectious agents develop the ability to evade drug effects, has required an ongoing search for different agents. The increase in resistance to antimicrobial drugs has resulted from their widespread and sometimes indiscriminate use (see also antibiotic resistance).

Irvin S. Snyder

Central nervous system drugs

Several major groups of drugs, notably anesthetics and psychiatric drugs, affect the central nervous system. These agents often are administered in order to produce changes in physical sensation, behaviour, or mental state. General anesthetics, for example, induce a temporary loss of consciousness, enabling surgeons to operate on a patient without the patient’s feeling pain. Local anesthetics, on the other hand, induce a loss of sensation in just one area of the body by blocking conduction in nerves at and near the injection site.


Floyd E. Bloom

Cardiovascular drugs

Cardiovascular drugs affect the function of the heart and the blood vessels. Given the relatively high prevalence of certain cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (high blood pressure) and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries caused primarily by the deposition of fat on the inner walls of the arteries), these agents necessarily rank among some of the most widely used drugs in medicine. They frequently are classified according to the tissues they act on and the specific actions they produce. Thus, there are drugs that act on the heart and that are distinguished further by their ability to alter either the frequency of heartbeat, the force of contraction of the heart muscle, or the regularity of the heartbeat. There also are a number of drugs that act on the blood vessels, typically causing the vessels to constrict (to raise blood pressure) or to relax (to lower blood pressure). (For detailed information on these agents, see cardiovascular drug and cardiovascular disease.)

Drugs affecting blood

Drugs may also affect the blood itself, such as by activating or inhibiting enzymes involved in the formation of clots (thrombi) within blood vessels. Thrombi form when blood vessels are damaged, such as by wounding or by the accumulation of harmful substances (e.g., fat, cholesterol, inflammatory substances) on the inner walls of vessels. Thrombi are further defined by their adherence to vessel walls, which in the case of a condition such as atherosclerosis can give rise to thrombosis, in which the thrombus partially impedes the flow of blood through the vessel. When a portion of a thrombus breaks off, the circulating clot becomes known as an embolus. An embolus travels in the bloodstream and may become lodged in an artery, blocking (occluding) blood flow. This can lead to heart attack or stroke. Anticoagulants, antiplatelet drugs, and fibrinolytic drugs all affect the clotting process to some degree; these classes of drugs are distinguished by their unique mechanisms of actions.

Other drugs that act on the blood include the hypolipidemic drugs (or lipid-lowering agents) and the antianemic drugs. The former are used in the treatment hyperlipidemia (high serum levels of lipids), which frequently is associated with elevated cholesterol; examples include the widely prescribed statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors). Antianemic agents increase the number of red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin (an oxygen-carrying protein) in the blood, deficiencies that underlie anemia.

Digestive system drugs

Drugs may act on the digestive system either by affecting the actions of the involuntary muscle (motility) and thus altering movement or by altering the secretion of digestive juices or gastric emptying. Some examples of major groups of digestive drugs include antidiarrheal drugs, laxatives, antiemetics, emetics, proton pump inhibitors, and antacids.

Reproductive system drugs

Several sites in the reproductive system either are vulnerable to chemicals or can be manipulated by drugs. Within the central nervous system, sensitive sites include the hypothalamus (and adjacent areas of the brain) and the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. Regions outside the brain that are vulnerable include the gonads (i.e., the ovaries in the female and the testes in the male), the uterus in the female, and the prostate gland in the male.

The body has anatomic or physiological barriers that tend to protect the reproductive system. The so-called placental barrier and the blood-testis barrier impede certain chemicals, although both allow most fat-soluble chemicals to cross. Drugs that are more water-soluble and that possess higher molecular weights tend not to cross either the placental or the blood-testis barrier. In addition, if a drug binds to a large molecule such as a blood-borne protein, it is less likely to be transported into the testes or less likely to come in contact with the fetus. If the fetus is exposed in the uterus to certain drugs, it may develop abnormalities; those toxic substances are described as teratogenic (literally, “monster-producing”). The sedative and antiemetic agent thalidomide and the anticonvulsant drug phenytoin are notorious examples of teratogens. Women frequently are advised to avoid all drugs (including nicotine) during pregnancy, unless the medicine is well-tried and essential. Drugs taken by males may be teratogenic if they damage the genetic material (chromosomes) of the spermatozoa. There appears to be little, if any, barrier to chemicals, or drugs, gaining entry to breast milk or semen.

John A. Thomas

Endocrine system drugs

Control of most body functions is achieved by the nervous system and the endocrine system, which constitute the two main communication systems of the body. They function in a closely coordinated way, each being dependent on the other for its proper operation. The total behaviour of the organism is integrated by a constant traffic of both neural and hormonal signals, which are received and responded to by appropriate tissues. The activities of the central nervous system and of the endocrine glands are themselves dependent on feedback control through neural and hormonal stimuli. This control is related to the toxicity of hormones when used therapeutically, because prolonged use of certain hormones or their analogs in this way may quell, sometimes irreversibly, the appropriate gland’s output of endogenous hormone.

The natural hormones belong to only a few chemical classes. Most are polypeptides; some are derivatives of amino acids (epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, or thyroid hormones); and some are steroids (the sex hormones and the hormones of the adrenal cortex). Polypeptide and amino acid hormones bring about their effects by acting on cell membrane receptors that are specifically sensitive to their action. Steroid hormones penetrate the cell membrane and interact with receptors on specific binding proteins, which then act on the cell nucleus to modify protein synthesis. The techniques of recombinant DNA technology have begun to provide improved methods for obtaining large amounts of scarce human hormones in pure form.

The functions of hormones fall into three general categories: (1) morphogenesis, which is a process that uses hormones to regulate the growth, differentiation, and maturation of the organism (e.g., the development of secondary sex characteristics under the influence of ovarian or testicular hormones), (2) homeostasis, or metabolic regulation, in which hormones are used to maintain a dynamic equilibrium of the components of the body, such as fats, carbohydrates, proteins, electrolytes, and water, and (3) functional integration, whereby hormones regulate or reinforce functions of the nervous system and patterns of behaviour (e.g., the influence of sex hormones on sexual activity and maternal behaviour).

The therapeutic use of hormones is concerned primarily with replacement therapy in deficiency states (e.g., deficiency of glucocorticoids in Addison disease). Hormones and their analogs and antagonists, however, can be used for a variety of additional purposes—e.g., topical corticosteroids to control dermatitis and oral contraceptives to control ovulation.

John A. Thomas

Renal system drugs

The kidney is primarily concerned with maintaining the volume and composition of body fluids. Thus, drugs that affect the renal system generally alter the levels of fluids in the body, often by facilitating either the excretion or the retention of fluid through changes in the concentrations of solutes in the fluid.

The kidneys work by nonselectively filtering blood, under pressure, in millions of small units called glomeruli. The glomeruli are contained within the nephrons, the so-called functional units of the kidneys. The nephrons can be divided into distinct regions in which the absorptive processes are different: the proximal tubule, leading directly from the glomerulus; the loop of Henle; the distal tubule, leading away from the loop; and the collecting duct. These processes underlie the kidneys’ ability to form one litre of filtrate every eight minutes; 99 percent of this volume is normally reabsorbed, unless there has been excess fluid intake.

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, such as acetazolamide and methazolamide, depress the reabsorption of sodium bicarbonate in the proximal tubule by inhibiting an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, which is involved in the reabsorption of bicarbonate. Urine formation is increased. The urine, which is rich in sodium bicarbonate and is alkaline, also has an increased concentration of potassium ions, which can lead to a serious loss of potassium from the body (hypokalemia).

Diuretics rid the body of fluid that builds up in edema (accumulation of body fluid with dissolved solutes in the intercellular spaces of the connective tissue) by interfering with the mechanisms of solute transport, thus increasing the production of urine. Diuretics that act in the loop of Henle produce a rapid peak in the excretion of urine (diuresis), which then wanes as the drugs are excreted and because of the compensatory factors due to fluid loss. These diuretics clear sodium chloride (salt) from the body and interfere indirectly with the mechanisms by which water is reabsorbed from the collecting duct. Consequently, large volumes of dilute urine containing sodium, potassium, and chloride ions are formed. The loop diuretics are also called high-ceiling diuretics because they can produce an extra level of diuresis over and above the maximum produced by other classes of diuretic drugs. Examples of this class are furosemide, ethacrynic acid, and bumetanide. Loop diuretics are used in the treatment of pulmonary edema associated with congestive heart failure. The major side effect of these drugs is hypokalemia.

The thiazide class of diuretics, which are widely used in the treatment of hypertension, interferes with salt reabsorption in the first part of the distal tubule. A mild diuresis results in which sodium, potassium, and chloride ions are eliminated in the urine. Examples of these drugs are chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide.

The adrenal gland releases a hormone, aldosterone, which promotes sodium absorption in the latter part of the distal tubule. Its function is to increase sodium retention in sodium-depleted states. Aldosterone levels, however, may be abnormally high in hyperaldosteronism and in hypertension. Drugs such as spironolactone act as antagonists of aldosterone and compete with it for its site of action in the distal tubule. As with most antagonists, spironolactone has no direct action of its own but simply prevents the action of the hormone, thereby correcting the excess sodium reabsorption.

In the latter part of the distal tubule, there are mechanisms that exchange one ion for another; for example, sodium is exchanged for potassium and hydrogen. Sodium is absorbed across the tubule wall while potassium and hydrogen are added to the urine. Thus, diuretics such as the thiazides, loop diuretics, and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, which prevent sodium absorption in the early parts of the nephron, cause an unusually large sodium load to be delivered to the distal tubule, where sodium may be exchanged for other ions, especially potassium, and reabsorbed from the urine. The result is that the body loses a large amount of potassium ions, which is serious if the loss exceeds the capacity of the diet to restore it. Potassium depletion leads to failure of neuromuscular function and to abnormalities of the heart, among other serious effects. The potassium-sparing diuretics block the exchange processes in the distal tubule and thus prevent potassium loss. Sometimes a mixture of diuretics is used in which a thiazide is taken together with a potassium-sparing diuretic to prevent excess potassium loss. In other instances, the potassium loss may be made up by taking oral potassium supplements in the form of potassium chloride.

Osmotic diuretics (e.g., mannitol) are substances that have a low molecular weight and are filtered through the glomerulus. They limit the reabsorption of water in the tubule. Osmotic diuretics cannot be reabsorbed from the urine, so they set up a situation of nonequilibrium across the tubule membrane. In order to maintain normal osmotic pressure, water is moved across the membrane, increasing the volume of urine.

In some situations it is desirable to change the acidity or alkalinity of the urine, usually to promote the loss of toxic substances from the body. Urine may be made more alkaline by giving sodium bicarbonate or citrate salts. It may be made more acid by giving ammonium chloride.

Alan William Cuthbert

Dermatologic drugs


Several factors affect the transport of drugs through the skin (transdermal penetration) once they have been applied topically. The absorption of drugs through the skin is enhanced if the drug is highly soluble in the fats (lipids) of the subcutaneous layer. The addition of water (hydration) to the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of skin) greatly enhances the transdermal movement of corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory steroids) and certain other topically applied agents. Hydration can be effected by wrapping the appropriate part of the body with plastic film, thereby facilitating dermal absorption. If the epithelial layer has been removed, or denuded, by abrasion or burns or if it has been affected by a disease, penetration of the drug may proceed more rapidly. A drug will be distributed, or partitioned, between the solvent and the lipids of the skin according to the solubility of the solvent in water or lipids. Topical absorption of drugs is facilitated when they are dissolved in solvents that are soluble in both water and lipids.

Topical application of drugs provides a direct, localized effect on a specific area of the skin. When drugs are applied topically to the skin, they may be dissolved in a variety of vehicles or formulations, ranging from simple solutions to greasy ointments. The particular type of dermal formulation used (e.g., powder, ointment) depends in part on the type of skin lesion or disease process.

Topical medications can relieve itching, exert a constricting or astringent action on the pores, or dissolve or remove the epidermal layers. Other pharmacological effects from topically applied drugs include antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antiparasitic actions. Analgesic balms (e.g., wintergreen oil or methyl salicylate) have been used topically to relieve minor muscle aches and pains.

The skin can be affected by other means, including sunscreens, photosensitizing drugs, and pigmenting agents (psoralens). Sunscreens, which act as barriers to sunlight by blocking, scattering, or otherwise reflecting the light, include agents such as para-aminobenzoic acid. Other chemicals (e.g., coal tar) act in conjunction with sunlight on the skin to achieve a high sensitivity to sunlight (photosensitization). Drugs capable of causing photosensitization generally exert their effects following the absorption of light energy. For example, the topical or systemic administration of methoxsalen or trioxsalen prior to exposure to the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun augments the production of melanin pigment in the skin. These and other psoralens have been used in the treatment of the skin disorder vitiligo in an effort to repigment the whitish patches that commonly occur on the hands and face.

The transdermal application of drugs can also achieve a systemic rather than local effect. The administration of a drug through the skin not only minimizes the metabolism of the drug before it reaches the rest of the body but also eliminates the high and low blood levels associated with oral administration. A major limitation of transdermal drug administration is that only a small amount of drug can be given through the skin.

Transdermal drug administration makes use of a variety of structures from which the drug is distributed. The rate of drug release is determined by the properties of the synthetic membrane of the vehicle and the difference in drug concentration across the membrane. Because the anatomic site can influence this rate, testing for the most suitable areas of placement is done for each drug. Examples of transdermal drugs are nitroglycerin, in impregnated disks applied to the upper chest or upper arm, and scopolamine (a drug used to treat motion sickness and nausea), in a polymer device applied behind the ear.

Drugs may be applied to mucous membranes, including those of the conjunctiva, mouth, nasopharynx, vagina, colon, rectum, urethra, and bladder. They may either exert a local action or be absorbed into the bloodstream to act elsewhere. Examples include nitroglycerin, which is absorbed from under the tongue (sublingually) to act on the heart and relieve anginal pain, and acetaminophen, an analgesic sometimes taken in suppositories. Nasal insufflation, or inhalation, involves the local application of a drug to the mucous membranes of the nose to achieve a systemic action. This represents an effective delivery route of antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin) and its analogs in the treatment of diabetes insipidus. Relatively unsuccessful efforts have been made to get hormones of larger molecular weight, such as insulin or growth hormone, to penetrate the mucous membranes of the nasal cavity and thereby avoid the need to inject such hormones. Although certain medications can be applied successfully to mucous membranes, the topical application of drugs to the skin represents a more widespread and important therapeutic method of administration.

Humphrey P. Rang

Drugs affecting muscle

Drugs that affect smooth muscle

Smooth muscle, which is found primarily in the internal body organs and undergoes involuntary, often rhythmic contractions that are not dependent on outside nerve impulses, generally shows a broad sensitivity to drugs relative to striated muscle. Most of the drugs that stimulate or inhibit smooth muscle contraction do so by regulating the concentration of intracellular calcium, which is involved in initiating the process of contraction. But other intracellular messengers such as cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) are also involved (see the section Principles of drug action).

Drugs such as adrenoceptor agonists, muscarinic agonists, nitrates, and calcium channel blockers all affect smooth muscle. Hormones can also influence smooth muscle function. Apart from histamine, agents known to function as local hormones are prostanoids. Prostanoids (e.g., prostaglandins) and leukotrienes (a related group of lipids) are derived by enzymatic synthesis from one of three 20-carbon fatty acids, the most important being arachidonic acid. These substances are important especially in producing tissue responses to injury. Among their most important sites of action are bronchial and uterine smooth muscle. Leukotrienes, for example, are powerful bronchoconstrictors, and they are believed to be synthesized and released during asthmatic attacks. Some drugs for the treatment of asthma block the binding of leukotrienes to their receptor. For example, zileuton blocks the conversion of arachidonic acid to leukotrienes by inhibition of the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase.

Prostaglandins in minute amounts produce a broad range of physiological effects in almost every system of the body. Prostaglandins E1 and E2 are dilators, and prostaglandins of the F series are bronchoconstrictors. Prostaglandin E1 also dilates blood vessels, and it is sometimes administered by intravenous infusion to treat peripheral vascular disease. Most prostaglandins cause uterine contraction, and they are sometimes administered to initiate labour.

Ergot alkaloids are produced by a parasitic fungus that grows on cereal crops. Among the many biologically active constituents of ergot, ergotamine and ergonovine are the most important. The main effect of ergotamine is to constrict blood vessels, sometimes so severely as to cause gangrene of fingers and toes. Dihydroergotamine, a derivative, can be used in treating migraine. Ergonovine has much less effect on blood vessels but a stronger effect on the uterus. It can induce abortion, though not reliably. Its main use is to promote a strong uterine contraction immediately after labour, thus reducing the likelihood of bleeding.

Drugs that affect skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle contracts in response to electrical impulses that are conducted along motor nerve fibres originating in the brain or the spinal cord. The motor nerve fibres reach the muscle fibres at sites called motor end plates, which are located roughly in the middle of each muscle fibre and store vesicles of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (this meeting of nerve and muscle fibres is known as the neuromuscular junction). The contractile mechanism of skeletal muscles entails the binding of acetylcholine to nicotinic receptors on the membranes of muscle fibres. Acetylcholine binding causes ion channels to open and allows a local influx of positively charged ions into the muscle fibre, ultimately causing the muscle to contract. Because this mechanism is relatively insensitive to drug action, the most important group of drugs that affect the neuromuscular junction act on (1) acetylcholine release, (2) acetylcholine receptors, or (3) the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (which normally inactivates acetylcholine to terminate muscle fibre contraction).

Botulinum toxin causes neuromuscular paralysis by blocking acetylcholine release. There are a few drugs that facilitate acetylcholine release, including tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine. They work by blocking potassium-selective channels in the nerve membrane, thereby prolonging the electrical impulse in the nerve terminal and increasing the amount of acetylcholine released. This can effectively restore transmission under certain conditions, but these drugs are not selective enough for their actions to be of much use therapeutically.

Neuromuscular blocking drugs act on acetylcholine receptors and fall into two distinct groups: nondepolarizing (competitive) and depolarizing blocking agents. Competitive neuromuscular blocking drugs act as antagonists at acetylcholine receptors, reducing the effectiveness of acetylcholine in generating an end-plate potential. When the amplitude of the end-plate potential falls below a critical level, it fails to initiate an impulse in the muscle fibre, and transmission is blocked. The most important competitive blocking drug is tubocurarine, which is the active constituent of curare, a drug with a long history and one of the first drugs whose action was analyzed in physiological terms. Claude Bernard, a 19th-century French physiologist, showed that curare causes paralysis by blocking transmission between nerve and muscle, without affecting nerve conduction or muscle contraction directly. Curare is a product of plants (mainly species of Chondodendron and Strychnos) that grow primarily in South America and has been used there for centuries as an arrow poison.

Tubocurarine has been used in anesthesia to produce the necessary level of muscle relaxation. It is given intravenously, and the paralysis lasts for about 20 minutes, although some muscle weakness remains for a few hours. After it has been given, artificial ventilation is necessary because breathing is paralyzed. Tubocurarine tends to lower blood pressure by blocking transmission at sympathetic ganglia, and, because it can release histamine in tissues, it also may cause constriction of the bronchi. Synthetic drugs are available that have fewer unwanted effects—for example, gallamine and pancuronium.

The action of competitive neuromuscular blocking drugs can be reversed by anticholinesterases, which inhibit the rapid destruction of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction and thus enhance its action on the muscle fibre. Normally this has little effect, but, in the presence of a competitive neuromuscular blocking agent, transmission can be restored. This provides a useful way to terminate paralysis produced by tubocurarine or similar drugs at the end of surgical procedures. Neostigmine often is used for this purpose, and an antimuscarinic drug is given simultaneously to prevent the parasympathetic effects that are enhanced when acetylcholine acts on muscarinic receptors.

Anticholinesterase drugs also are useful in treating myasthenia gravis, in which progressive neuromuscular paralysis occurs as a result of the formation of antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor protein. The number of functional receptors at the neuromuscular junction becomes reduced to the point where transmission fails. Anticholinesterase drugs are effective in this condition because they enhance the action of acetylcholine and enable transmission to occur in spite of the loss of receptors; they do not affect the underlying disease process. Neostigmine and pyridostigmine are the drugs most often used, because they appear to have a greater effect on neuromuscular transmission than on other cholinergic synapses, and this produces fewer unwanted side effects. The immune mechanism responsible for the inappropriate production of antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor is not well understood, but the process can be partly controlled by treatment with steroids or immunosuppressant drugs such as azathioprine.

Depolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs, of which succinylcholine is an important example, act in a more complicated way than nondepolarizing, or competitive, agents. Succinylcholine has an action on the end plate similar to that of acetylcholine. When given systemically, it causes a sustained end-plate depolarization, which first stimulates muscle fibres throughout the body, causing generalized muscle twitching. Within a few seconds, however, the maintained depolarization causes the muscle fibres to become inexcitable and therefore unable to respond to nerve stimulation. The paralysis lasts for only a few minutes, because the drug is quickly inactivated by cholinesterase in the plasma. Succinylcholine often is used to produce paralysis quickly at the start of a surgical procedure (and then is supplemented later with a competitive blocking agent) or for brief procedures. It is used widely, despite a number of disadvantages. Generalized muscle aches are commonly experienced for a day or two after recovery. More seriously, a small proportion of people (about 1 in 3,000) have abnormal plasma cholinesterase and may remain paralyzed for a long time. Succinylcholine also causes the release of potassium ions from muscles and an increase in the concentration of potassium in the plasma. This happens particularly in patients with severe burns or trauma, in whom it can cause potentially dangerous cardiac disturbances. Another hazard is the development of malignant hyperthermia, a sudden rise in body temperature caused by increased tissue metabolism. This condition is very rare, but it is often fatal if not treated rapidly enough.

Humphrey P. Rang

Autonomic nervous system drugs

The autonomic nervous system controls the involuntary processes of the glands, large internal organs, cardiac muscle, and blood vessels. It is divided functionally and anatomically into the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems, which are associated with the fight-or-flight response or with rest and energy conservation, respectively.

Modern pharmacological understanding of the autonomic nervous system emerged from several key insights made in the early 20th century. The first of these came in 1914, when British physiologist Sir Henry Dale suggested that acetylcholine was the neurotransmitter at the synapse between preganglionic and postganglionic sympathetic neurons and also at the ends of postganglionic parasympathetic nerves. (Preganglionic neurons originate in the central nervous system, whereas postganglionic neurons lie outside the central nervous system.) He showed that acetylcholine could produce many of the same effects as direct stimulation of parasympathetic nerves. Firm evidence that acetylcholine was in fact the neurotransmitter emerged in 1921, when German physiologist Otto Loewi discovered that stimulation of the autonomic nerves to the heart of a frog caused the release of a substance, later identified to be acetylcholine, which slowed the beat of a second heart perfused with fluid from the first. Similar direct evidence of the release of a sympathetic neurotransmitter, later shown to be norepinephrine (noradrenaline), was obtained by American physiologist Walter Cannon in 1921.

Both acetylcholine and norepinephrine act on more than one type of receptor. Dale found that two foreign substances, nicotine and muscarine, could each mimic some, but not all, of the parasympathetic effects of acetylcholine. Nicotine stimulates skeletal muscle and sympathetic ganglia cells. Muscarine, however, stimulates receptor sites located only at the junction between postganglionic parasympathetic neurons and the target organ. Muscarine slows the heart, increases the secretion of body fluids, and prepares the body for digestion. Dale therefore classified the many actions of acetylcholine into nicotinic effects and muscarinic effects. Drugs that influence the activity of acetylcholine, including atropine, scopolamine, and tubocuraine, are known as cholinergic drugs (see the section Drugs that affect skeletal muscle).

A similar analysis of the sympathetic effects of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and related drugs was carried out by American pharmacologist Raymond Ahlquist, who suggested that these agents acted on two principal receptors. A receptor that is activated by the neurotransmitter released by an adrenergic neuron is said to be an adrenoceptor. Ahlquist called the two kinds of adrenoceptor alpha (α) and beta (β). This theory was confirmed when Sir James Black developed a new type of drug that was selective for the β-adrenoceptor.

Both α-adrenoceptors and β-adrenoceptors are divided into subclasses: α1 and α2; β1, β2, and β3. These receptor subtypes were recognized by their responses to specific agonists and antagonists, which provided important leads for the development of new drugs. For example, salbutamol was discovered as a specific β2-adrenoceptor agonist. It is used to treat asthma and is a great improvement over its predecessor, isoproterenol; because the activity of isoproterenol is not specific, it acts on β1-adrenoceptors as well as β2-adrenoceptors, resulting in cardiac effects that are sometimes dangerous. Salbutamol and other agents that act on adrenoceptors, including albuterol, ephedrine, and imipramine, are known as adrenergic drugs.

Humphrey P. Rang

Anticancer drugs

Anticancer drugs are agents that demonstrate activity against malignant disease. They include alkylating agents, antimetabolites, natural products, and hormones, as well as a variety of other chemicals that do not fall within these discrete classes but are capable of preventing the replication of cancer cells and thus are used in the treatment of cancer.

Hormones are used primarily in the treatment of cancers of the breast and sex organs. These tissues require hormones such as androgens, progestins, or estrogens for growth and development. By countering these hormones with an antagonizing hormone, the growth of that tissue is inhibited, as is the cancer growing in the area. For example, estrogens are required for female breast development and growth. Tamoxifen competes with endogenous estrogens for receptor sites in breast tissue where the estrogens normally exert their actions. The result is a decrease in the growth of breast tissue and of breast cancer tissue. Adrenocorticosteroids are also used for treating some types of cancer. The hormones are an example of a site-specific antineoplastic drug, but they work only on certain types of cancer.

Understanding of the basic biology of cancer cells has led to drugs with entirely new targets. One agent, interleukin-2, regulates the proliferation of tumour-killing lymphocytes. Interleukin-2 is used in the treatment of malignant melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. Trans-retinoic acid can promote remission in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia by inducing normal differentiation of the cancerous cells. A related compound, 13-cis-retinoic acid, prevents the development of secondary tumours in some individuals. A particularly exciting application of cancer biology stems from the understanding of DNA translocation in chronic myelocytic leukemia. This translocation codes for a tyrosine kinase, an enzyme that phosphorylates other proteins and is essential for cell survival. Inhibition of the kinase by imatinib has been shown to be highly effective in treating patients who are resistant to standard therapies.

Hydroxyurea inhibits the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase, an important element in DNA synthesis. It is used to reduce the high granulocyte count found in chronic myelocytic leukemia. Asparaginase breaks down the amino acid asparagine to aspartic acid and ammonia. Some cancer cells, particularly in certain forms of leukemia, require this amino acid for growth and development. Other agents, such as dacarbazine and procarbazine, act through various methods, although they can act as alkylating agents. Mitotane, a derivative of the insecticide DDT, causes necrosis of adrenal glands.

A number of agents synthesized from plants are used in the treatment of cancer. Paclitaxel was first isolated from the bark of the western yew tree. It stops cell division by an action on the microtubules and has been tested for activity against ovarian and breast cancers. The camptothecins are a class of antineoplastic agents that target DNA replication. The first compound in this class was isolated from the Chinese camptotheca tree. Irinotecan and topotecan are used in the treatment of colorectal, ovarian, and small-cell lung cancer. Vinblastine and vincristine (vinca alkaloids), derived from the periwinkle plant, along with etoposide, act primarily to stop spindle formation within the dividing cell during DNA replication and cell division. These drugs are important agents in the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, and testicular cancer. Etoposide, a semisynthetic derivative of a toxin found in roots of the American mayapple, affects an enzyme and causes breakage of DNA strands.

For more information on agents used in the treatment of cancer, see anticancer drug and cancer: Diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Irvin S. Snyder Janet L. Stringer


Immunosuppressants are used to block the immune response. They generally are administered to patients who are preparing to undergo organ transplantation and are used in the treatment of autoimmune disease. Commonly used immunosuppressant drugs include calcineurin inhibitors, glucocorticoids, and monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.

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