A nonaddictive opioid painkiller with no side effects
What if scientists could develop an opioid-based painkiller that is not addictive and has limited side effects?
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 05, 2018
49
4312
News tagged with receptors
This is LSD attached to a brain cell serotonin receptor (Update)
A tiny tab of acid on the tongue. A daylong trip through hallucinations and assorted other psychedelic experiences For the first time, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have discovered precisely what the drug lysergic ...
Biochemistry
Jan 26, 2017
6
2865
Women with Neandertal gene give birth to more children
One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals—a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according ...
Evolution
May 27, 2020
0
1912
Blazes of light reveal how plants signal danger long distances
In one video, you can see a hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf's edges, approaching the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severing it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds, a blaze of fluorescent ...
Biotechnology
Sep 13, 2018
15
2686
Scientists engineer one protein to fight cancer and regenerate neurons
Our lungs, bones, blood vessels and other major organs are made up of cells, and one way our bodies keep us healthy is by using protein messengers known as ligands that bind to receptors on the surfaces of cells to regulate ...
Biotechnology
Jun 08, 2020
0
4839
Researchers uncover secrets of 'miracle fruit'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Though not very well known in the United States, at least until the past few years, the miracle fruit is a cranberry like fruit that has the unique property of being able to make acidic or bitter foods taste ...
Breakthrough study shows how plants sense the world
Plants lack eyes and ears, but they can still see, hear, smell and respond to environmental cues and dangers—especially to virulent pathogens. They do this with the aid of hundreds of membrane proteins that can sense microbes ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2018
0
1870
'Universal law of touch' will enable new advances in virtual reality
Seismic waves, commonly associated with earthquakes, have been used by scientists to develop a universal scaling law for the sense of touch. A team, led by researchers at the University of Birmingham, used Rayleigh waves ...
Mathematics
Oct 09, 2020
2
499
Superhuman 'night' vision during the total eclipse? Research offers a biological explanation
If you were fortunate enough to witness the recent total solar eclipse in all its glory, you might have noticed something surprising.
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 05, 2017
7
925
Coral snake venom reveals a unique route to lethality
For more than a decade, a vial of rare snake venom refused to give up its secret formula for lethality; its toxins had no effect on the proteins that most venoms target. Finally, an international team of researchers figured ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 09, 2015
2
123
Receptor (biochemistry)
In biochemistry, a receptor is a protein molecule, embedded in either the plasma membrane or cytoplasm of a cell, to which a mobile signaling (or "signal") molecule may attach. A molecule which binds to a receptor is called a "ligand," and may be a peptide (such as a neurotransmitter), a hormone, a pharmaceutical drug, or a toxin, and when such binding occurs, the receptor undergoes a conformational change which ordinarily initiates a cellular response. However, some ligands merely block receptors without inducing any response (e.g. antagonists). Ligand-induced changes in receptors result in physiological changes which constitute the biological activity of the ligands.
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