Mechanism of action

[2] In contrast, a mode of action (MoA) describes functional or anatomical changes, at the cellular level, resulting from the exposure of a living organism to a substance.

[14] A current limitation of this approach is the time required to manually generate and interpret data, but advances in automated microscopy and image analysis software may help resolve this.

Due to the physical interactions between the labeled molecule and a protein, biochemical methods can be used to determine the toxicity, efficacy, and mechanism of action of the drug.

[15] This provides an insight at a possible mechanism of action since it is known what certain functional components of the drug are responsible for when interacting with a certain area on a protein, thus leading to a therapeutic effect.

[citation needed] The mechanism of action of aspirin involves irreversible inhibition of the enzyme cyclooxygenase;[17] therefore suppressing the production of prostaglandins and thromboxanes, thus reducing pain and inflammation.

However, in actuality, a mode of action describes functional or anatomical changes, at the cellular level, resulting from the exposure of a living organism to a substance.

Beta blockers exert their pharmacological effect, decreased heart rate, by binding to and competitively antagonising a type of receptor called beta adrenoceptors . [ 1 ]
Filamentation (top right) can indicate that an antibacterial agent is targeting PBP3, FtsZ or DNA. [ 4 ]