Eli5: When a dopamine agonist tricks the brain into thinking the molecules are actually dopamine, does the brain understand that it’s not dopamine and is like “that will work too I guess”?

Question

Eli5: When a dopamine agonist tricks the brain into thinking the molecules are actually dopamine, does the brain understand that it’s not dopamine and is like “that will work too I guess”?

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Answer 1

A receptor cannot distinguish between a substrate and an agonist, that’s what makes it an agonist. Usually such molecules have the same recognition points as the native substrate, making the receptor unable to distinguish the difference. A receptor is kind of like a lock, as long as the pins all get activated to the right height the lock will open.