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Biological activity is “the capacity of a specific molecular entity to achieve a defined biological effect” on a target (Jackson et al. 2007). It is measured in terms of potency or the concentration of the molecular entity needed to produce the effect (Pelikan 2004). A biological activity is determined by means of a biological assay.
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References
Jackson MJ, Esnouf MP, Winzor D, Duewer D (2007) Defining and measuring biological activity: applying the principles of metrology. Accredit Qual Assur 12(6):283–294
Pelikan EW (2004) Glossary of terms and symbols used in pharmacology. University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Boston. http://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm-pm/resources/glossary
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Batista-Navarro, R.T. (2013). Biological Activity. In: Dubitzky, W., Wolkenhauer, O., Cho, KH., Yokota, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1337
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1337
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