Posted by: biochem belle
Posted on: Thu, Sep 30, 2010, 10:11 pm CDT
GR, when did uracil get classified as an amino acid? It's kind of lacking the acid part?
Here are random trivia bits. Do with them what you will.
- Mice have gall bladders, but rats do not.
- Mice and rats do not have the neurophysiological response required to vomit. Instead researches use ferrets to characterize drug-induced emesis and anti-emetics. Their biphasic emesis response to the cisplatin perfectly mirrors that of humans, and this model allowed Merck to develop Emend, a substance P antagonist prescribed for cancer patients experiencing chemo-induced vomiting.
- Prostaglandins (a class of lipid signaling molecules) were initially isolated from seminal fluid and so named because it was originally thought they were synthesized by the prostate gland. Shockingly, they actually are synthesized in seminal vesicles... and a whole hell of a lot of other places in the body too. (Less entry level, so I suppose this is more for your own amusement.)
- The planet will be completely depleted of helium (at least in amounts large enough to collect) in ~30 years or so. Liquid helium is used for cooling big ass powerful lasers and magnets (e.g. MRIs).
- Ethylene glycol's (aka antifreeze) toxicity arises from its sequential metabolism by alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, the same enzymes that metabolize ethanol (aka booze). Metabolism of ethylene glycol generates oxalic acid, which is quite toxic, partially because it crystallizes in kidney tubules. Ethanol can compete with ethylene glycol, reducing formation of oxalic acid. Hence, the remedy for antifreeze is booze. Of course, some would argue that booze is the remed for a lot of things in life.