Classification of Prostanoid Receptors

Neurohormones are considered to exert their physiological effects by interacting with specific receptors on the effector organ, ¹ and for over 10 years it has been considered that this is also the case for prostaglandins. ² However, it is only within the last 6 years that significant advances have been made with regard to the pharmacological classification of prostaglandin-receptor subtypes. ² - ⁴ It has been argued that the development of therapeutic agents of a prostaglandin nature has been hampered by a lack of a definitive prostaglandin-receptor system ⁴ and only recently have potent selective antagonists or agonists been developed. The actions of eicosanoid antagonists are discussed in more detail in the accompanying chapters by Sanner and by Musser et al. The purpose in this chapter is to assess the evidence for classification of prostaglandin receptors from a classical pharmacological standpoint.