Receptor modulator

A receptor modulator, or receptor ligand, is a general term for a substance, endogenous or exogenous, that binds to and regulates the activity of chemical receptors. They are ligands that can act on different parts of receptors and regulate activity in a positive, negative, or neutral direction with varying degrees of efficacy. Categories of these modulators include receptor agonists and receptor antagonists, as well as receptor partial agonists, inverse agonists, orthosteric modulators, and allosteric modulators,[1] Examples of receptor modulators in modern medicine include CFTR modulators,[2] selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), and muscarinic ACh receptor modulators.