Word: receptors
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...particles must get their load of cholesterol back to the liver for excretion. Some researchers theorize that cholesterol collected in the HDL particle is transferred to a VLDL ferryboat circulating in the bloodstream; the VLDL then metamorphoses into an LDL, which is picked up by an LDL receptor in the liver. Others think HDL may in fact be a passive player -- a sort of biological signal light that indicates how efficiently excess cholesterol is being removed, without necessarily taking any direct role...
...said Black "realized the great pharmacotherapeutic potential of receptor-blocking drugs...
Steven Paul, chief of the clinical neuroscience branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, is studying how ethanol affects certain cells in the brain to induce sedative effects. He is looking at a group of receptors, sites on the membranes of brain cells, that link with a molecule called gamma- aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that moves across the synapses between neurons. GABA homes in on a complex known as the GABA-benzodiazepine receptor. If there are a sufficient number of GABA molecules present in certain areas of the brain, anxiety diminishes. Tranquilizers such as Valium and Librium work...
Paul believes ethanol also reduces anxiety by acting on those GABA-sensitive neurons. Altering the amount of GABA in the brain could theoretically neutralize the effects of intoxication. To that end, Paul is currently experimenting with a drug, Ro15-4513, that blocks ethanol's ability to activate the GABA receptor, thus sharply reducing alcohol's sedative effects in rats. Although the drug is toxic to humans, variants could one day be useful in treatment. Other scientists are studying a new class of drugs that seem to block the alcoholic's craving for a drink. These compounds boost the amount...
Single-mindedly, the AIDS virus ignores many of the blood cells in its path, evades the rapidly advancing defenders and homes in on the master coordinator of the immune system, a helper T cell. On the surface of that cell, it finds a receptor into which one of its envelope proteins fits perfectly, like a key into a lock. Docking with the cell, the virus penetrates the cell membrane and is stripped of its protective shell in the process. Within half an hour, the strand of RNA and an enzyme the virus carries with it are floating in the cytoplasm...