Viewpoints:

Dispatches from the Frontlines of Research - edited by John W. Nelson

John K. Amory

Inhibiting Sperm Motility for Male Contraception: Will the Sperm Tail Be its "Achilles Heel"?
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 68-70. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

Val J. Watts

Adenylyl Cyclase Isoforms as Novel Therapeutic Targets: An Exciting Example of Excitotoxicity Neuroprotection
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 70-73. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

Mary Jeanne Kreek and K. Steven LaForge

Stress Responsivity, Addiction, and a Functional Variant of the Human Mu-Opioid Receptor Gene
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 74-78. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

R E V I E W S:

Karl-Erik Andersson and George J. Christ

REGENERATIVE PHARMACOLOGY: THE FUTURE IS NOW
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 79-86. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

The idea of regenerative medicine has been with us for so long that the concept has been relegated to mythology (think of Prometheus) or to the wildly creative (think of Walt Disney). But the reality is that regenerative biomedicine has begun to show great promise in the laboratory and clinic, and the field may well be poised to revolutionize worldwide healthcare. Cells cultured from the failing organs of patients can be conditioned in "bio-reactors" and grown on scaffolds to take on shapes that recapitulate functional organs. "Neo-organs" constructed in this way represent fully immunocompatible resources for organ implants, and encouraging clinical results with "neobladders" and tissue-engineered vasculature are established in the literature. The demands and opportunities that regenerative medicine places on pharmacology are enormous, from experimental systems on which to test bioactive agents, to the characterization of neo-organs for use in medicine and research.

R. Kyle Palmer

The Pharmacology and Signaling of Bitter, Sweet, and Umami Taste Sensing
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 87-98. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

Many of the molecular components of the signal transduction pathways underlying taste have been elucidated. In taste buds, the chemosensory receptors for bitter, sweet, and umami (i.e., savory) tastes now are known to be G protein–coupled receptors, whereas salty and sour tastes result from tastant-activation of ion channels. The sense of taste has been investigated for many years using the methods of psychophysics and neurophysiology, and several excellent animal-based taste models are in use. New methods now are being developed for evaluating taste signaling in isolated taste bud and taste cells, and in cells that heterologously express taste receptors and other taste-specific signal transduction proteins.

Vanja Petrovic, Shirley Teng, and Micheline Piquette-Miller

REGULATION OF DRUG TRANSPORTERS: DURING INFECTION AND INFLAMMATION
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 99-111. [Summary] [Full Text] [PDF]  

Membrane transporters play an important role in determining the absorption and activity of many drugs. Intriguingly, inflammation alters the expression and activity of many drug transporters and thereby affects drug absorption and efficacy. The effects of inflammatory conditions on drug transporter regulation and a possible link between differences in drug disposition and inflammation are discussed.

D E P A R T M E N T S:

Speaking of Pharmacology:

Harry B. Smith

Honoring Julius Axelrod
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 56-58. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Reflections:

Science in the cultural context

Stanley Scheindlin

Medicine in the Days of the Caliphs
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 59-64. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Nascent Transcripts:

Emerging concepts from the recent literature
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 65. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Significant Deciles:

ASPET celebrates its centennial anniversary: 1900–1910
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 66-67. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Beyond the Bench:

Representations of pharmacology and science in the media

Christie Carrico

Telescopic Hindsight
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 112-113. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Net Results:

Sites of interest on the World Wide Web

Sites of interest on the World Wide Web—edited by David Roman
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 114. [Full Text] [PDF]  

Outliers:

Cartoon

Outliers
Mol. Interv. 2007 7: 120. [Full Text] [PDF]  

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