A general molecular model for the effect of multicomponent mixtures on biological systems

The purpose of this paper is to provide a general theoretical framework for the effect of multicomponent mixtures on biological systems when the components of these mixtures produce similar types of effects such as cardiac stimulation, sweet taste or a particular odor quality. These systems are assumed to involve receptor and, possibly, transducer entities with which the mixture components interact. In the general model, there are no constraints on the number of mixture components, receptors, transducers or binding activities in these systems. This means that substances may have receptors/transducers in common, they may have independent binding mechanisms or any combination of these two possibilities.