94 papers
Pharmacology and toxicology explore how substances interact with living systems, ranging from the development of life-saving medicines to understanding the dangers of chemical exposure. This field sits at the critical intersection of chemistry and biology, asking essential questions about how drugs work, how the body processes them, and what happens when things go wrong. It is a dynamic area where researchers constantly strive to improve patient safety while discovering new therapeutic possibilities.
At Gist.Science, we bridge the gap between complex research and public understanding by curating the latest preprints from bioRxiv in this vital category. Our team processes every new submission from bioRxiv as it appears, transforming dense scientific data into both plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries. This ensures that whether you are a specialist or a curious reader, you can grasp the significance of these emerging findings without getting lost in jargon.
Below are the most recent pharmacology and toxicology papers from bioRxiv, each accompanied by our expert analysis to help you navigate the latest scientific breakthroughs.
During early acetaminophen-induced liver injury, mid-zone hepatocytes transiently suppress proliferation to prioritize stress adaptation and survival through an Atf4-Chop-Btg2 axis, thereby preserving regenerative capacity for subsequent liver repair.
This paper presents an extended ProDock workflow that integrates multi-engine docking (GNINA and DiffDock) with Optuna-optimized re-ranking based on pose-level descriptors, significantly improving virtual screening enrichment and pose accuracy across 43 DUDE-Z targets.
This study demonstrates that cannabidiol (CBD), delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and terpenes individually and synergistically inhibit the excitability of mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons through receptor-dependent and indirect mechanisms, supporting the potential of multi-component cannabis formulations as effective non-opioid analgesics.
This study demonstrates that Gene III(R) L-Ergothioneine supplementation effectively alleviates exercise-induced fatigue in mice by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation while activating the AMPK/PGC-1α signaling pathway to enhance mitochondrial function and cellular protection.
This study reveals that the nematicide tioxazafen causes skin rashes and lethality by being bioactivated into proteasome-disrupting toxins by specific cytochrome P450 enzymes, a mechanism missed in pre-market testing due to species differences in enzyme activity.
This study demonstrates that inhibiting netrin-1 with NP137 fails to alleviate cancer-induced bone pain or reduce bone destruction in three translational models, suggesting that while netrin-1 may be involved in early-stage disease, its inhibition does not produce therapeutic anti-nociceptive effects.
This study utilized data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry to comprehensively profile membrane-associated transport proteins in human placenta across all three trimesters, revealing that the abundance of solute carrier and ATP-binding cassette transporters is significantly higher in early gestation compared to term, thereby providing critical insights into how fetal exposure to nutrients and xenobiotics changes throughout pregnancy.
This study demonstrates that ergothioneine, either alone or combined with vitamins K2, D3, and magnesium L-threonate, effectively attenuates systemic oxidative stress, inflammation, and bone turnover disturbances in ovariectomized mice, successfully preserving distal-femoral trabecular area despite failing to fully restore tibial microarchitecture.
Using a direct-to-biology approach with mix-and-read fluorescence polarization assays, researchers successfully converted the weak SARS-CoV-2 Mac1 inhibitor GS-441524 into the highly potent and broad-spectrum inhibitor KP-S54, while elucidating its binding mode through cocrystal structure analysis.
This study evaluates modular polymeric nanomedicines of buparlisib in 2D and 3D glioblastoma models, demonstrating that while polymer conjugation reduces potency compared to the free drug, the redox-sensitive disulfide-linked formulation retains concentration-dependent activity and represents the most promising strategy for further development.