Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19837460›Full record

ArticleEndeavour2009

A binding question: the evolution of the receptor concept.

Andreas-Holger Maehle

Abstract readHistorical ArticlePortrait
In one paragraph

Article in Endeavour, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Sugar-sensing swodkoreceptors and swodkocrine signaling.Animal models and experimental medicine · 2025
    Article
  2. On Drugs.The Journal of medicine and philosophy · 2023
    Article
  3. Targeting natural products against SARS-CoV-2.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022
    Review
  4. International journal of molecular sciences · 2021
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Andreas-Holger MaehleCentre for the History of Medicine and Disease, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, Queen's Campus, Stockton TS176BH, United Kingdom. a.h.maehle@durham.ac.uk

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In present-day pharmacology and medicine, it is usually taken for granted that cells contain a host of highly specific receptors. These are defined as proteins on or within the cell that bind with specificity to particular drugs, chemical messenger substances or hormones and mediate their effects on the body. However, it is only relatively recently that the notion of drug-specific receptors has become widely accepted, with considerable doubts being expressed about their existence as late as the 1960s. When did the receptor concept emerge, how did it evolve and why did it take so long to become established?

Indexed as

Allergy and ImmunologyHistory, 19th CenturyHistory, 20th CenturyHumansNeurophysiologyReceptors, DrugReceptors, Drug

Identifiers

PMID19837460
PMCPMC2812702

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.