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.
This study demonstrates that cannabidiol (CBD) promotes recovery from traumatic brain injury in zebra finches by enhancing astrocyte viability and reducing injury-induced glial stress responses across song control nuclei, thereby preserving specialized neural circuits essential for vocal learning.
This study demonstrates that Pinus sp. leaf extracts exhibit potent, non-toxic antileishmanial activity against Leishmania donovani through antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects, with metabolomic and in silico analyses suggesting that flavanone O-glycosides, alkaloids, and diterpenes within the extracts inhibit the parasite via trypanothione reductase.
This study demonstrates that low concentrations of cadmium exposure alter Jamaican fruit bat adaptive immune responses by upregulating B and T cell transcripts and inducing a Th2-dominant profile, without significantly affecting viral replication in kidney cells.
This study demonstrates that chronic nicotine self-administration increases impulsive action in rats, a deficit specifically reduced by the nAChR antagonist mecamylamine but not by agonists or partial agonists, highlighting the utility of the Go/No-Go task for investigating nicotine-induced impulsivity.
This study identifies hydroxysteroid 11-beta dehydrogenase 1 (HSD11B1) as the direct molecular target of magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate (MgIG) and elucidates its therapeutic mechanism in alcohol-associated liver disease through the suppression of the HSD11B1-SREBP2-IDI1 signaling axis, which alleviates hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and apoptosis.
This study introduces steroid-based Tide Quencher 1 (TQ1) probes that enable real-time, residue-level mapping of novel non-canonical cholesterol-binding sites on the M1 muscarinic receptor, overcoming traditional assay limitations to facilitate structure-guided drug discovery targeting allosteric lipid-GPCR interactions.
This preclinical study demonstrates that electroconvulsive seizures (ECS) effectively reduce increased voluntary ethanol consumption in adult rats previously exposed to adolescent binge drinking, likely by modulating hippocampal BDNF levels and improving the neurotoxic NF-L/BDNF ratio.
This study demonstrates that targeting Protease-activated Receptor 4 (PAR4) with the antagonist VU6073819 significantly mitigates kidney injury, inflammation, and mortality in a mouse model of ischemia-reperfusion-induced acute kidney injury, establishing PAR4 as a promising therapeutic target.
This study demonstrates that conventional reference genes are unstable during fish oogenesis and proposes a more robust normalization framework using multiple reference genes and total cDNA concentration to ensure accurate and reproducible transcriptomic analysis in fish ovaries.
This study demonstrates that intravenous administration of the metalloproteinase inhibitor Marimastat, either alone or combined with a phospholipase A2 inhibitor, significantly improves skeletal muscle regeneration and reduces fibrosis in mice even when given 24 hours after Bothrops asper venom-induced myonecrosis.