Difference between inhibitor vs. antagonist vs. blocker

[honeygreentea]

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Hi all,

I have a general pharmacology nomenclature question. Is there a difference between a receptor/enzyme inhibitor vs. antagonist vs. blocker? Are these 3 terms interchangeable?

For example:
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are not commonly referred to as proton pump blockers.
Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are not commonly referred to as angiotensin receptor inhibitors.
Histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) are not commonly referred to as histamine-2 receptor inhibitors. I have seen them referred as "histamine-2 blockers".

I already tried searching Google, SDN, and Goodman & Gilman.

Thank you in advance.

 

[zelman]

Hi all,

I have a general pharmacology nomenclature question. Is there a difference between a receptor/enzyme inhibitor vs. antagonist vs. blocker? Are these 3 terms interchangeable?

For example:
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are not commonly referred to as proton pump blockers.
Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are not commonly referred to as angiotensin receptor inhibitors.
Histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) are not commonly referred to as histamine-2 receptor inhibitors. I have seen them referred as "histamine-2 blockers".

I already tried searching Google, SDN, and Goodman & Gilman.

Thank you in advance.

Typically, blockers are competitive antagonists while inhibitors are allosteric antagonists.

 

[npage148]

inhibitors are allosteric antagonists.

Like ACE-Is?

 

[zelman]

Like ACE-Is?

Nope. I knew I said "typically" for a reason.

NNRTIs and NRTIs also obviously disprove my statement.

 

[npage148]

And SSRIs. Which inhibitors are allosteric?