At this point, you may be thinking, “how on earth did anyone figure out this stuff?” To answer this question you need to understand that scientists who study physiological processes often employ drugs. Yep, drugs! A drug that has the same effect as acetylcholine will result in all kinds of information about how something works. We use the terms agonist and antagonist when referring to drugs. A drug that has the same effect as the neurotransmitter (acetylcholine) would be considered an agonist. A drug that blocks the effect of the neurotransmitter is called an antagonist.

Look at the table below of different drugs used in the study of muscle physiology and see if you can predict the effect the drug would have on a muscle.