Scientists have found how the sodium influences the signaling of a major class of brain cell receptors known as opioid receptors which could help pave way for new therapeutic approaches to a host of brain-related medical conditions. Lead author Dr. Gustavo Fenalti a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Raymond C. Stevens of TSRI's Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology said that this discovery has helped them decipher a 40-year-old mystery about sodium's control of opioid receptors. The researchers revealed the basis for sodium's effect on signaling with a high-resolution 3-D view of an opioid receptor's atomic structure.
