We ’ve known for a foresighted time that marijuana , and its combat-ready chemical compound , tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) , can have a remedial outcome . But while THC , and the associated cannabinoid molecule , can aid in pain stand-in and muscle spasms , it can also have side effect ranging from anxiety to nausea .
However , if research worker can well understand how the molecule interacts with the sensory receptor , it is possible they can develop a proxy that induces some of marijuana ’s good effects while derogate the negatives ones .
To research this further , a new study published in the journalNatureused X - beam crystallography to in core image the receptor as it stick to to cannabinoid corpuscle . In doing so , the squad notice that our initial savvy of these cannabinoid receptors , know as CB1 , was a bit off and that they are far more flexible and bendable than we previously thought .
It had long been thought that cannabinoid receptors and tetrahydrocannabinol work like a “ lock and cardinal ” mechanism , in which the THC molecules are the key , fitting perfectly within the protein on the airfoil of the jail cell that act like a lock . This latest study , however , has managed to decrypt CB1 in far more detail than ever before – and constitute that that ’s not on the nose the face .
The team find thatit was made up of seven sausage - like social organisation – themselves constructed of twirl of amino acids – and that when the molecule landed on the tie internet site , the sense organ physically change shape to accommodate it . The power of receptors to alter their complex body part is already well known , but this is the first time that it has been proven for those that adhere to THC and other related atom .
It is think that this great flexibleness and plasticity of the CB1 sensory receptor could be exploit . If it can extend and deform to reconcile a wider mountain range of mote than previously thought , the researcher hope that they might be able to design new molecules that can double some of the impression create by THC , such as anti - nausea , but avoid others like anxiousness and addiction .
[ H / T : Wired ]
