Biological activity

Biological activity

Pharmacological or biological activity is an expression describing the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. When the drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or pharmacophore but can be modified by the other constituents. The main kind of biological activity is a substance's toxicity. Activity is generally dosage-dependent and it is not uncommon to have effects ranging from beneficial to adverse for one substance when going from low to high doses. Activity depends critically on fulfillment of the ADME criteria.

Whereas a material is considered bioactive if it has interaction with or effect on any cell tissue in the human body, pharmacological activity is usually taken to describe beneficial effects, i.e. the effects of drug candidates.

In the study of biomineralisation, bioactivity is often meant as the formation of calcium phosphate deposits on the surface of objects placed in simulated body fluid, a buffer solution with ion content similar to blood.

See also

* Lipinski's Rule of Five, describing molecular properties of drugs
* QSAR, quantitative structure-affinity relationship
* Chemical property
* Molecular property
* Physical property
* Chemical structure


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Biological interaction — Biological interactions are the effects organisms in a community have on one another. In the natural world no organism exists in absolute isolation, and thus every organism must interact with the environment and other organisms. An organism s… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological integrity — is associated with how “pristine” an environment is and its function relative to the potential or original state of an ecosystem before human alterations were imposed. Biological integrity is built on the assumption that a decline in the values… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological therapy for inflammatory bowel disease — Biological therapy refers to the use of medication that is tailored to specifically target an immune or genetic mediator of disease. cite journal | author = Staren E, Essner R, Economou J | title = Overview of biological response modifiers. |… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological hydrogen production — is done in a bioreactor based on the production of hydrogen by algae. Algae produce hydrogen under certain conditions. In the late 1990s it was discovered that if algaeclarifyme are deprived of sulfur they will switch from the production of… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological imaging — may refer to any imaging technique used in biology.Typical examples include: * Bioluminescence imaging, a technique for studying laboratory animals using luminescent protein * Calcium imaging, determining the calcium status of a tissue using… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological psychology — In psychology, biological psychology, also known as biopsychology, psychobiology, or behavioral neuroscience [http://www.m w.com/cgi bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla search va=psychobiology Merriam Webster s Online Dictionary » Psychobiology] >]… …   Wikipedia

  • biological development — Introduction       the progressive changes in size, shape, and function during the life of an organism by which its genetic potentials (genotype) are translated into functioning mature systems (phenotype). Most modern philosophical outlooks would …   Universalium

  • Biological neural network — From Texture of the Nervous System of Man and the Vertebrates by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The figure illustrates the diversity of neuronal morphologies in the auditory cortex. In neuroscience, a biological neural network describes a population of… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological target — A biological target is a biopolymer such as a protein or nucleic acid whose activity can be modified by an external stimulus. The definition is context dependent and can refer to the biological target of a pharmacologically active drug compound,… …   Wikipedia

  • Biological pacemaker — The heart is endowed with specialized excitatory and conducting cells that are responsible for the generation and conduction of rhythmic impulses and contractions throughout the heart. If these cells are damaged by disease, the implantation of an …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”