1. John Langley first postulated the receptor theory in 1878 after experiments showing that nicotine and curare analogs competed for an unknown substrate to cause muscle contraction or inhibition.
2. Langley concluded in 1905 that a "protoplasmic receptive substance" must exist in striated muscle for drugs to act upon directly through competition, with effects determined by their chemical affinities and doses.
3. For a receptor to function, it must specifically recognize and bind its ligand through saturable, reversible binding, and transduce the binding into a functional response through various effector systems.