Tag: Insulin
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Snake Venom: The Hormone Hijacker 🐍
Imagine a villainous mastermind that can infiltrate your body’s hormonal headquarters, manipulating the delicate balance of estrogen and other hormones. Welcome to the world of snake venom, where the stakes are high and the effects are unpredictable. Estrogen’s Uninvited Guest: When Snake Venom Crashes the Hormone Hoedown Prepare for the most bizarre gatecrasher at the…
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Relaxin
We’re about to dive into the wild world of Relaxin, the protein hormone that’s been turning heads since 1926 when Frederick Hisaw first stumbled upon it. This isn’t your average hormone – it’s a multitasking marvel that’s about to blow your mind! Researchers say this tiny protein, barely 6000 Da in size, is strutting around…
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Buccal Administration of Insulin
Nanotechnology as a Promising Strategy for Alternative Routes of Insulin Delivery Catarina Pinto Reis, Christiane Damgé, in Methods in Enzymology, 2012 Chapter fourteen The buccal mucosa has excellent accessibility, low enzymatic activity, a large absorptive area with a spread of vascularization, and a relatively immobile mucosa which may be an important factor for increasing the residence time of the drugs. In…
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Proprotein convertases (PPCs) are a family of proteins that activate other proteins
Many proteins are inactive when they are first synthesized, because they contain chains of amino acids that block their activity. Proprotein convertases remove those chains and activate the protein. The prototypical proprotein convertase is FURIN. Proprotein convertases have medical significance, because they are involved in many important biological processes, such as cholesterol synthesis. Compounds called proprotein convertase inhibitors…
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Nerve Growth Factor
Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophic factor and neuropeptide primarily involved in the regulation of growth, maintenance, proliferation, and survival of certain target neurons. It is perhaps the prototypical growth factor, in that it was one of the first to be described. Since it was first isolated by Nobel Laureates Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen in 1956, numerous biological processes involving NGF have been identified,…
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A Mad Scientist’s Dream – Rumpless Chickens (and more)
Today, we delve into the bizarre phenomenon of rumpless chickens—a feathered marvel characterized by caudal dysplasia, or as some like to call it, the ultimate chicken makeover! These quirky birds are missing their pygostyle, that charming little appendage known as the “parson’s nose,” a mutation that defies nature itself. This peculiar trait is inherited through…
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Protamine sulfate is a medication that is used to reverse the effects of heparin and reported to cause allergic reactions in patients who are allergic to fish, diabetics using insulin preparations containing protamine, and vasectomized or infertile men
Protamine sulfate is a medication that is used to reverse the effects of heparin. It is specifically used in heparin overdose, in low molecular weight heparin overdose, and to reverse the effects of heparin during delivery and heart surgery. It is given by injection into a vein. The onset of effects is typically within five minutes. Common side effects include low blood pressure, slow heart rate, allergic reactions, and…
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Phosphorylation
In biochemistry, phosphorylation is the attachment of a phosphate group to a molecule or an ion.[1] This process and its inverse, dephosphorylation, are common in biology.[2] Protein phosphorylation often activates (or deactivates) many enzymes.[3][4] During respiration and photosynthesis Phosphorylation is essential to the processes of both anaerobic and aerobic respiration, which involve the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the “high-energy” exchange medium in the cell. During aerobic respiration, ATP is synthesized…
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Gastric inhibitory peptide aka GIP and receptors
Gastric inhibitory polypeptide or gastric inhibitory peptide also known as glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide abbreviated as GIP, is an inhibiting hormone of the secretin family of hormones. While it is a weak inhibitor of gastric acid secretion, its main role is to stimulate insulin secretion. GIP, along with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), belongs to a class of molecules referred to as incretins. Synthesis and transport GIP is derived from a 153-amino acid proprotein encoded by…
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Adrenarche and Adrenopause
Adrenarche is an early stage in sexual maturation that happens in some higher primates and in humans, typically peaks at around 20 years of age, and is involved in the development of pubic hair, body odor, skin oiliness, axillary hair, sexual attraction/sexual desire/increased libido and mild acne. During adrenarche the adrenal glands secrete increased levels of weak adrenal androgens, including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (A4), but without increased cortisol levels. Adrenarche is the result of the development of a…
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Medical uses of adrenaline
Main article: Epinephrine (medication) As a medication, it is used to treat several conditions, including allergic reaction anaphylaxis, cardiac arrest, and superficial bleeding. Inhaled adrenaline may be used to improve the symptoms of croup. It may also be used for asthma when other treatments are not effective. It is given intravenously, by injection into a muscle, by inhalation, or by injection just under the skin. Common…
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Bile acid receptor (BAR) aka farnesoid X receptor (FXR) or NR1H4
The bile acid receptor (BAR), also known as farnesoid X receptor (FXR) or NR1H4 (nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group H, member 4), is a nuclear receptor that is encoded by the NR1H4 gene in humans. Function FXR is expressed at high levels in the liver and intestine. Chenodeoxycholic acid and other bile acids are natural ligands for FXR. Similar to other nuclear receptors, when activated, FXR translocates to the cell nucleus, forms…
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Somatostatin
Not to be confused with Somatocrinin or Somatomedin. Somatostatin, also known as growth hormone-inhibiting hormone (GHIH) or by several other names, is a peptide hormone that regulates the endocrine system and affects neurotransmission and cell proliferation via interaction with G protein-coupled somatostatin receptors and inhibition of the release of numerous secondary hormones. Somatostatin inhibits insulin and glucagon secretion. “somatostatin”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 04 mag. 2016…
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Corticotropin-like intermediate [lobe] peptide (CLIP)
Corticotropin-like intermediate [lobe] peptide (CLIP), also known as adrenocorticotropic hormone fragment 18-39 (ACTH(18-39)), is a naturally occurring, endogenous neuropeptide with a docosapeptide structure and the amino acid sequence Arg-Pro-Val-Lys-Val-Tyr-Pro-Asn-Gly-Ala-Glu-Asp-Glu-Ser-Ala-Glu-Ala-Phe-Pro-Leu-Glu-Phe. CLIP is generated as a proteolyic cleavage product of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), Gianoulakis C, Seidah NG, Routhier R, Chrétien M (December 1979). “Biosynthesis and characterization of adrenocorticotropic hormone, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and an NH2-terminal fragment of the adrenocorticotropic hormone/beta-lipotropin precursor from rat pars intermedia”. The…
