receptor
nounUK /ɹɪˈsɛp.tə/ · /ɹəˈsep.tə/
Etymology From Middle English receptour, from Old French receptour or Latin receptōrius, from recipiō (“receive”), from re- (“back”) + capiō (“to hold”).
1
Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Microbiology, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A protein on a cell wall that binds with specific molecules so that they can be absorbed into the cell in order to control certain functions.
- In the target organ, the drug is recognised by ‘receptors’. These are large molecules, usually proteins, to which the drug binds tightly and with a high degree of specificity.2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 24:
- White blood cells of the immune system, the gut and the spleen also have another type of cannabinoid receptor, known as CB2.2019 May 14, Moises Velasquez-Manoff, “Can CBD Really Do All That?”, in The New York Times Magazine:
2
Biology, Natural sciences Any specialized cell or structure that responds to sensory stimuli.
3
Obsolete One who receives something or someone; in particular, one who harbors a fugitive.
- […] fewe that were there did spend the same daie abowte the searchinge out of sundrye that were receptors of ffelons, where we fownd a greate manye aswell in London, Westminster, Sowthwarke, as in all other places abowte the same.1585, Fleetwood, in 1824, Henry Ellis, Original letters, illustrative of English history, page 297
- The kind Receptors of the Fugitiues after the Detection.1609, William Barlow, Answer to a nameless Catholic's censure, page 13:
1 more example
- An act […] Against pyrats, their assistors or abettors, out-traidors or receptors, against breakers of the admirall's arrestments and attachments against goods forbidden,1660, Virginia statue, The Statutes at Large, Virginia, published 1809, page 538:
- Derived terms
51 terms
adrenoreceptor, angiotensin receptor blocker, aporeceptor, autoreceptor, bioreceptor, ceptor, chemoreceptor, continuous erythropoietin receptor activator, coreceptor, counterreceptor, electroreceptor, enteroreceptor, exteroreceptor, gasoreceptor, glycoreceptor, gravireceptor, heteroreceptor, holoreceptor, hydroreceptor, immunoreceptor, interreceptor, isoreceptor, magnetoreceptor, mechanoreceptor, metaboreceptor, minireceptor, multireceptor, -nercept, nercept, neuroreceptor, neutroceptor, nonreceptor, osmoreceptor, perireceptor, phosphoreceptor, postreceptor, protoreceptor, pseudoreceptor, purinoceptor, radioreceptor, receptome, receptomic, receptomics, receptoral, receptorless, receptorome, sartan, selective androgen receptor modulator, thermohygroreceptor, thermoreceptor, xenoreceptor- Related terms
- effector
- Hyponyms
26 terms
acetylcholine receptor, adrenergic receptor, alpha-receptor, aquareceptor, beneceptor, cannabinoid receptor, chimeric antigen receptor, co-receptor, exteroceptor, Fc receptor, gasoreceptor, glucocorticoid receptor, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor, hygroreceptor, interoceptor, J receptor, juxtacapillary receptor, mechanoreceptorial, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, nociceptor, opioid receptor, orphan receptor, photoreceptor, proprioceptor, purinergic receptor, toll-like receptor