Indeed, transmitter-gated ion channels have for a long time been important targets for drugs. A surgeon, for example, can make muscles relax for the duration of an operation by blocking the acetylcholine receptors on skeletal muscle cells with curare, a drug from a plant that was originally used by South American Indians to poison arrows. Most drugs used in the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia exert their effects at chemical synapses, and many of these act by binding to transmitter-gated channels. Both barbiturates and tranquilizers, such as Valium and Librium, for example, bind to GABA receptors, potentiating the inhibitory action of GABA by allowing lower concentrations of this neurotransmitter to open Cl- channels. The new molecular biology of ion channels, by revealing both their diversity and the details of their structure, holds out the hope of designing a new generation of psychoactive drugs that will act still more selectively to alleviate the miseries of mental illness.
I would like to suggest the best book for molecular biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell by Bruce Alberts, et al. This book is a big one, a hard one, an interesting one, a useful one. In my opinion, current and upcoming IBOs are focusing more and more on molecular and cell biology. Reason being these fields require more critical and analytical thinking and are not as theory dense as say anatomy.
Cell And Molecular Biology Lippincott S Illustrated Reviews Series Pdf.11
If you want something cheaper than Alberts but equally useful, try Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition: The Problems Book. The Problems Book helps students appreciate the ways in which experiments and simple calculations can lead to an understanding of how cells work by introducing the experimental foundation of cell and molecular biology. Each chapter will review key terms, test for understanding basic concepts, and pose research-based problems. The Problems Book has been designed to correspond with the first twenty chapters of Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. 2ff7e9595c
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