mechanism of action

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Medicine, Biochemistry) The mechanism{2} by which a pharmacologically active substance produces an effect on a living organism or in a biochemical system. The mechanism of action is usually considered to include an identification of the specific molecular targets to which a pharmacologically active substance binds or whose biochemical action it influences; a general recognition of the broad biochemical pathways (such as DNA synthesis, protein synthesis, cholesterol synthesis) which are inhibited or affected by a substance is termed its mode of action.