The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have struggled to understand on a molecular level exactly how our bodies sense these potential risks. Now, ...

Certain cells, commonly called excitable cells, are unique because of their ability to generate electrical signals. Although several types of excitable cells exist — including neurons, muscle cells, ...

The process of expressing a wide variety of voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels enables nociceptors to transduce receptor potential into single action potentials or multiple action potentials.

Some neurological disorders, like chronic pain, depression, and epilepsy, are caused in part by an imbalance in neurochemical signals that either excite or calm down neurons. Existing treatments try ...

Researchers have identified an ion channel required for brain cells to suppress eating behavior in response to the hormone leptin or to the anti-obesity drug lorcaserin. UT Southwestern Medical Center ...

After the onset of painful peripheral stimuli, nociceptive neurons are activated and instigate a cascade of neuronal firings that transmit along the axons of the primary afferent fibers toward nerve ...

This is a 3-D computer model of the serotonin 5-HT3 receptor, embedded through a lipid bilayer membrane (horizontal structure with black lines and yellow balls) as it would be naturally in a cell.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have struggled to understand on a molecular level exactly how our bodies sense these ...