ABSTRACT

The idea of the ‘receptive substance’ or receptors as we now call them, was developed by John Langley of Cambridge 90 years ago (Fig. 3.1 A). Between 1901 and 1905 Langley laid the foundations for the idea of chemical transmission with his student Thomas Elliott (Fig 3 1B) through their investigations on sympathetic neuroeffector transmission. In an extraordinary act of creative ability, Langley then carried out a series of

Fig. 3.1. The founding fathers of chemical transmission at synapses.