LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF NEUROTRANSMITTERS

Receptors involved in neurotransmission are an important target for dr ug therapy and the identification and development of receptor-specific compounds is an essential part of contemporary drug development. Anta gonists acting at detrusor muscarinic receptors and prostatic adrenerg ic receptors are now established therapies for the treatment of bladde r instability and benign prostatic hyperplasia, respectively. Future d evelopments await the results of basic pathophysiological studies to e stablish the role of classical and nonadrenergic, noncholinergic neuro transmission in the development and maintenance of diseases of the low er urinary tract. With the development of better pharmacological tools and molecular biological techniques, receptor properties are likely t o be found to be tissue-specific, making the development of drugs with true tissue specificity and fewer side effects a reality.