Certain cells, commonly called excitable cells, are unique because of their ability to generate electrical signals. Although several types of excitable cells exist — including neurons, muscle cells, ...

Researchers have unraveled the complex biological phenomena that enable the sensing of heat and pain. The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have ...

Recent genome projects for ctenophores have revealed the presence of numerous ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) in Mnemiopsis leidyi and Pleurobrachia bachei, among our earliest metazoan ...

The process of expressing a wide variety of voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels enables nociceptors to transduce receptor potential into single action potentials or multiple action potentials.

Scientists decode the 3-D structure of the calcium channel with unprecedented accuracy. With the help of electron cryo-microscopy and a new technique for detecting electrons, they were able to ...

Teasing apart the complex circuitry of the brain might someday proceed with the flip of a switch, now that scientists have invented a light-responsive version of a common class of cell-surface ...

Ion channels are membrane proteins, which play a principal role in regulating cellular excitability. They are found in virtually all cells, and are of crucial physiological importance. Based on the ...

10 October. In tomorrow's Science, researchers describe how developing a new method dubbed "pharmacological knock-in" has enabled them to fill in the missing pieces of an unusual signal transduction ...

The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have struggled to understand on a molecular level exactly how our bodies sense these potential risks. Now, ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have struggled to understand on a molecular level exactly how our bodies sense these ...