[Analysis ligand-receptor interactions from the molecular to the organism levels]

Abstract

A system of quantitative analysis is proposed for evaluation of ligand-receptor interaction on models of different levels of complexity. For two discrete receptor pools, binding of radio-labelled ligands to specific receptors and the magnitude of physiological response for an effector system with two discrete pools of receptors with different affinities are described with the aid of developed respective equations. The equations' parameters characterise properties of the effector system under study: the number of receptor pools differing in their affinity to a ligand; the number of active receptors of the maximum response magnitude; and the number of ligand's molecules bound to the receptor. The derived parameter's efficiency provides a general characteristic of affinity for the effector system under study. The described method of analysis of the ligand-receptor interactions is applicable to studies of any biological responses yielding quantitative results.