Pharmacology
EC50 (Half-Maximal Effective Concentration)
Definition
EC50 is a pharmacological measure representing the concentration of an agonist that produces 50% of the maximal possible effect in a dose-response curve. It is a standard metric for quantifying the potency of receptor agonists and other activating compounds. A lower EC50 indicates higher potency, meaning a smaller concentration is required to achieve half-maximal activation. In peptide research, EC50 values are used to compare the relative potencies of peptide analogs at their target receptors and to guide concentration selection for in vitro and in vivo studies.