What's the difference between antagonist and protagonist?

Antagonist


Definition:

  • (n.) One who contends with another, especially in combat; an adversary; an opponent.
  • (n.) A muscle which acts in opposition to another; as a flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it.
  • (n.) A medicine which opposes the action of another medicine or of a poison when absorbed into the blood or tissues.
  • (a.) Antagonistic; opposing; counteracting; as, antagonist schools of philosophy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This death is also dependent on the presence of chloride and is prevented with the non-selective EAA antagonist, kynurenic acid, but is not prevented by QA.
  • (2) Microionophoretically applied excitatory amino acids induced firing of extracellularly recorded single units in a tissue slice preparation of the mouse cochlear nucleus, and the similarly applied antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (2APV) was demonstrated to be a selective N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist.
  • (3) Meanwhile the efficiency of muscarinic antagonists in inhibition of tremor reaction induced by arecoline administration is associated with interaction between the drugs and the M2-subtype.
  • (4) The anticonvulsant properties of the endogenous excitatory amino acid antagonist, kynurenic acid (KYA), were studied in prepubescent and adult rats using the amygdaloid kindling model of epilepsy.
  • (5) A novel bicyclic prostaglandin analogue, (1S)-[1 alpha,2 alpha(Z),3 alpha,4 alpha]-7-[3-[(hexylthio)methyl]-7- oxabicyclo [2.2.1]hept-2-yl]-5-heptenoic acid ((-)-10), and its cogeners were found to be potent antagonists at the TxA2 receptor.
  • (6) This difference was abolished by exposure of the slices to propranolol, a beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist.
  • (7) The TxA2 antagonistic effects of KW-3635 were compared with that of daltroban in PRP from various animals species.
  • (8) In experiments performed to determine whether PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis induced by TRH may have been caused by the elevation of [Ca2+]i, the following results were obtained: the effect of TRH to decrease the level of PtdIns(4,5)P2 was not reproduced by the calcium ionophore A23187 or by membrane depolarization with 50 mM K+; the calcium antagonist TMB-8 did not inhibit the TRH-induced decrease in PtdIns(4,5)P2; and, most importantly, inhibition by EGTA of the elevation of [Ca2+]i did not inhibit the TRH-induced decrease in PtdIns(4,5)P2.
  • (9) Similarly, 50 microM D-600, a Ca+2 channel antagonist, significantly (P less than 0.01) reduced basal and 5-HETE-induced PRL release.
  • (10) Selective removal of endothelium had no effect on BK-induced contraction or the action of the antagonists.
  • (11) The second experiments entailed use of the nonspecific opiate antagonist, naloxone, as well as the specific delta antagonist, ICI 154,129, against seizures induced by icv-administered morphine, morphiceptin, DADL, or DSLET.
  • (12) These antagonists reverse NMDA-mediated long term influence in these brain areas.
  • (13) This novel mechanism of receptor regulation, named transmodulation, should be distinguished from the reduction in total receptor number caused by the homologous ligand (downregulation) and from the change in affinity produced by the binding of agonists or antagonists to the same receptor site.
  • (14) Furthermore, the ability of a vasopressin antagonist to lower arterial pressure in NTS hypertensive rats was markedly attenuated by clonidine treatment.
  • (15) All of the serotonergic antagonists studied had additional effects on the response of the coronary artery to electrical stimulation or to norepinephrine.
  • (16) Their receptive fields comprise a temporally and spatially linear mechanism (center plus antagonistic surround) that responds to relatively low spatial frequency stimuli, and a temporally nonlinear mechanism, coextensive with the linear mechanism, that--though broad in extent--responds best to high spatial-frequency stimuli.
  • (17) The effects of low doses of dihydropyridine (DHP) calcium channel antagonists nimodipine, nifedipine, (-)-R-202-791, and amlodipine, the DHP calcium channel agonist BAY K 8644 were investigated on clonic convulsions to pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in mice.
  • (18) Addition in the cultures of 4-deoxypyridoxine, a potent antagonist of vitamin B6 coenzymes, concurrently with the mitogen, inhibits the induction of serine hydroxymethyltransferase.
  • (19) These results suggest that prevention of xenograft rejection using PAF-antagonist in association with other methods should be further investigated.
  • (20) The high concentrations of gonadotropins present in immature female rats by the end of the second week of life were suppressed by treatment with an antagonist against luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH-A; Org.

Protagonist


Definition:

  • (n.) One who takes the leading part in a drama; hence, one who takes lead in some great scene, enterprise, conflict, or the like.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The Independent noted that one of the female protagonists yelled "You c***!"
  • (2) There are numerous other male protagonists out there in desperate need of a sex change.
  • (3) At times, they gained a momentum that took even the protagonists by surprise.
  • (4) Phase II is the attack and destruction of the allograft by these protagonists.
  • (5) Not relegate them to background characters in the service of a white cis-male fictional protagonist.” Both groups have drawn their conclusions from the film’s trailer.
  • (6) But the bedeviled foray also works as a potent allegory on the slow, vice-like workings of conscience, as guilt hunts down the protagonists with the shrieking remorselessness of Greek furies.
  • (7) We don’t need a man to help us or lead us … We’re protagonists who defend a Podemos for everyone.” Iglesias responded coolly, saying he was convinced there would be “far better candidates”.
  • (8) Owing to the poor quality of much of this research the claims of the protagonists of these therapies cannot be proved or disproved.
  • (9) The roles of each protagonist are related in detail, with pragmatism.
  • (10) In 90 engrossing minutes came comedy, controversy, drama, breathtaking moments and an eye-catching turn from the star protagonist himself.
  • (11) The novelist and critic Tom Bissell has described the protagonist's Jewish lawyer in 2002's Vice City as "an anti-Semitic parody of an anti-Semitic parody", while in the new game one of the main character's daughters has a tattoo that reads "skank", and one mission involves you helping a paparazzo capture a starlet's "low-hanging muff".
  • (12) "But where in Dostoevsky or Poe the protagonist experiences his double as a terrifying embodiment of his own otherness (and especially his own voraciousness and destructiveness), we barely notice the difference between ourselves and our online double.
  • (13) Despite the world-weary tone of a brutal review in the New York Times, which suggested that it added nothing new to the "groaning shelf" of homosexual literature, a story with an unashamedly gay protagonist unleashed a storm of protest in a country where sodomy was still illegal.
  • (14) It was probably all over for the idea of being stoned as a portal to a higher consciousness after the release of a film in which the two perma-baked protagonists drive a car with the numberplate MUF DVR.
  • (15) M∆tilda – spelt with an Alt-J – references Luc Besson's film Léon and is "fuelled by the shared demise of both the protagonist and antagonist".
  • (16) Protagonists of the method included Ambroise Paré, Thomas Fienus, Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Julius Casserius, and Johannes Scultetus.
  • (17) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gone Girl star Ben Affleck: ‘Usually the protagonist is full of shit’ - video interview Fincher’s film narrowly beat another new film, the horror prequel Annabelle , into second place.
  • (18) But the protagonists – Patty especially – are constantly making new discoveries about themselves: redemptive insights, lessons in the contradictoriness of the human heart.
  • (19) Writing about her novel, Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel has explained how she brought the protagonist Thomas Cromwell alive for the reader by giving him vivid memories.
  • (20) Another way of assessing the claim and counterclaim is to consider the characters of the protagonists.