时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:2017年Scientific American(一)月


英语课

 


LSD is one of the most potent 1 hallucinogenic drugs—active at just around 100 micrograms…a miniscule amount. That fact has fascinated pharmacologists for decades. Namely, how can it have such long-lasting effects…12 hours or more…at such tiny doses? 


To find out, researchers legally obtained LSD. And built copies of the receptors it binds 2 to in the brain—serotonin receptors. They mixed the LSD and the receptors together, and crystallized the result. They then imaged the structure, using x-ray crystallography.


And they found that when LSD linked up with the serotonin receptor, a sort of "lid" formed over it. Almost like the drug went in, then pulled the door shut behind it. "You could think of the top part of LSD as a hand, holding onto the latch 3 and pulling it down." Bryan Roth, a pharmacologist at University of North Carolina in Chapel 4 Hill involved in the research. 


"This explains why LSD is so potent, why such a small amount of it is active, and secondly 5 why it lasts for such a long period of time. Because basically once it gets in there it takes hours to come off the receptor." The study is in the journal Cell. [Daniel Wacker et al., Crystal Structure of an LSD-Bound Human Serotonin Receptor]


The result may also explain why microdosing—taking even smaller amounts of LSD, at sub-psychedelic levels—might work as a mood enhancer, as some users have reported. "It's clear from the data we have that these small doses can engage these receptors, and of course we know that the receptors that LSD interacts with, they're the same receptors that are thought to be involved in antidepressant drug action." 


Roth does not advocate trying it out. But he says the discovery of the "lid" might someday lead to the development of novel antidepressants—ones with long-lasting effects, at just the tiniest of doses.


—Christopher Intagliata



1 potent
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的
  • The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
  • We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。
2 binds
v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 );装订;捆绑;(用长布条)缠绕
  • Frost binds the soil. 霜使土壤凝结。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Stones and cement binds strongly. 石头和水泥凝固得很牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 latch
n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁
  • She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
  • The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。
4 chapel
n.小教堂,殡仪馆
  • The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
  • She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午,她在小教堂的演出,可以说是登峰造极。
5 secondly
adv.第二,其次
  • Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二,动脑筋提出自己的见解。
  • Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次,需要确定所作用的载荷。
学英语单词
a professional athlete
aaprotect
activity factor of B (in a liquid or a solid mixture)
al-rasheed
alignment time
anti-perfectionists
aporrectodea trapezoides
assembly robot
band-edge tailing
Barrault, Jean-Louis
be ambitious to do sth
beiderman
biophysics of membrane transport
blowout switch
boning room
caponier
Cetiprin
clinical genetics
cold waste
commercial fertilizer
content ratio analyzer
corticoliberin
crushable structure
customer centricity
DB
desktop videoconferencing
druggister
durable good
encander
essien
Ettrickhall
exner comprehensive system
extra heavy duty
genus omphalotuss
geometric mean inequality
group efficiency
hand brake housing
herposiphonieae
high efficiency TWT
highest probable frequency (hpf)
hold sb in high esteem
holeier
homogentisic acids
hot-tubs
instruction mode
iron-clad
Japanophobic
kizdere
kona cyclone
kragen
L, l
lactomucin
latitudinal cleavage
LC-ME
localcalls
lycocernuine
Maastrichtians
malignant auricular arrhythmia
methylphenylamine
micrometer-microscope
nimbiol
Office Francais de Recherche Sous-Marine
ophthalmoreaction
overconsolidated soil
peg-bar
pingees
pogonia macrocarpum broth
Pyeonghae
Qosqo
quadrant-edge orifice plate
radiosonde station
recommend substitutes
Rhizoma Panacis Japonici
rotating particle
roundhand
Saccharum Granorum
Saint James
schlenker
shoddy shaker
sidewheeler
silicon meter
skeezas
small calorie (cal)
softening plant
SP-54
square can
steering wheel angle
sukhoi
sulphur parakeet
the green-eyed monster
the have-nots
thixomolding
to yearn after...
tobacco looper
ultramacho
ultrasonic laparoscope
under authorities
volume color
wind someone round one's fingers
workfree
working-time
ya mean