Beneficial effects of beta blockers: a class action or individual pharmacologic spectrum?

Beta-adrenergic blockers have several physiologic and pharmacologic actions that are due to a class action resulting from competitive blockade of cellular receptors. However, they have other actions that are due to an individual spectrum of pharmacologic activity. These may be due to pharmacologic differences, such as cardioselectivity, membrane-stabilizing activity, and intrinsic sympathomimetic activity, or to disease-specific responses of patients.