Dose-response curves: potency, efficacy, slope and variability
Teaches you to read a dose-response curve: where it sits left-to-right (potency), how high it goes (efficacy), how steep it is (slope), and why people differ (variability).
Where this fitsConnects to 3 · Unlocks 1
- Connects to
- How drugs bind: affinity, shape and binding site — Potency comes from binding affinity.
- Agonists: full, partial, inverse and biased — Full vs partial agonists are two different efficacies.
- When enzymes change: induction, inhibition and genetics — Metabolic enzyme genetics are one source of variability.
- Unlocks
- Safety: therapeutic index, dosing across species, allergy and polypharmacy — Put an effective-dose curve next to a lethal-dose curve and you get the therapeutic index.
Orient
Dose-response curve (DRC) – the relationship between dose and response. Potency – based on binding affinity, how well drug molecules attach to their sites of action (receptors). Efficacy – maximum effect obtainable, with additional doses producing no effect. Slope – how sharply the effect changes with each change in dose. Variability – individual differences in drug responses.
Course terms
Your professor's wording, word for word from the slides. Learn the term and this definition — the explanation underneath is only there to help it make sense.
- Dose-response curve (DRC)
“Relationship between dose and response is called the dose-response curve (DRC)”Slides 05, p. 31
Any effect, primary or side, can be graphed.
- Potency
“Based on binding affinity - how well drug molecules attach to their sites of action (receptors)”Slides 05, p. 32
Equal effect at half the dose = twice as potent.
- Efficacy
“Maximum effect obtainable, with additional doses producing no effect”Slides 05, p. 35
Separate from potency — more potent does not always mean more effective.
- Slope
“How sharply the effect changes with each change in dose”Slides 05, p. 36
Steep: small dose change, large effect change.
- Variability
“Individual differences in drug responses”Slides 05, p. 37
Metabolic enzyme genetics, receptor densities, brains overall.
From your course: Course slides 05, pp. 31–39
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