Difference of an amino acid in nicotine receptors

2009/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology, led by Dennis Dougherty, finds that nicotine brain and muscle receptors have the difference of an amino acid. This difference explains why nicotine so hard activates brain receptors and why the same does not occur in muscles. In fact, the receptors in both places are very similar and so far the scientists did not understand why what happened with one did not happen with the other. If there were as many muscle receptors as there were in the brain, smoking would produce deadly muscle contractions.