Posted by llrrrpp on June 5, 2006, at 20:09:59
In reply to Re: word of the day » llrrrpp, posted by Racer on June 5, 2006, at 17:28:27
Racer,
does you inner geek like prion proteins?
These are little strings of amino acids that hang out as solitary creatures, but then, when they touch each other, they change shape ("conformation") and then they are a pair. And then another solitary prion protein comes along, and it touches the clump, and then it changes shape too. It's like a chain reaction. Pretty fun, except that it's usually associated with brain illness (bovine spongiform encephelophathy). Mad Cow disease, which you can also get from eating squirrel brains, and human brains.Until today, I thought prion proteins were only associated with bad brain stuff. Today I find out that there is a new kind of prion protein that is activated by serotonin, and is associated with the maintenence of long term memories. Before you get all excited. I should mention that this research was done in Sea Slugs and Yeast Cells. So. Any extrapolation to trying to apply this stuff to your own experience on SSRI's while exploring repressed memories with your therapist. Well, it's quite an extrapolation
I like the image though- a giant sea slug on a psychotherapy couch, talking about their memory for the time when the researcher shocked them, and their little gills retracted.
:)
Hope that quenches your inner geek!
-ll
poster:llrrrpp
thread:653245
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060604/msgs/653370.html