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Inpharmacology, anendogenous agonist for a particularreceptor is a compound naturally produced by the body which binds to andactivates that receptor. For example, the primary endogenous agonist forserotonin receptors isserotonin, and the primary endogenous agonist fordopamine receptors isdopamine.[1]
In general, receptors forsmall moleculeneurotransmitters such as serotonin will have only one endogenous agonist, but often have many different receptor subtypes (e.g. 13 differentreceptors for serotonin). On the other hand,neuropeptide receptors tend to have fewer subtypes, but may have several different endogenous agonists. This allows for a high degree of complexity in the body's signalling system, with different tissues often showing quite distinct responses to a particularligand. Some endogenousantagonists andinverse agonists are also known (e.g.,kynurenic acid at theNMDA receptor), but these are much less common.
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