📄 Category

pharmacology and toxicology

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.

📄 pharmacology and toxicology

Process optimization and antidepression multi-target mechanisms of Total Flavonoids from Hemerocallis citrina Baroni: An integrated approach combining DES-UAE, network pharmacology, and experimental validation

This study optimized a green deep eutectic solvent extraction method for total flavonoids from *Hemerocallis citrina* and validated their multi-target antidepressant mechanism, which involves suppressing neuroinflammation and modulating the HPA axis via the PI3K-AKT pathway, through integrated network pharmacology and in vitro experiments.

Zhang, G., Gao, L., Ji, H., Zhang, T., Zhang, Y.2026-03-02
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

A General Analytic Approach to Predicting the Best Antibiotic Dosing Regimen

This paper employs mathematical modeling to demonstrate that the concavity of an antibiotic's dose-response curve is the critical factor in determining whether constant low-dose or repeated high-dose regimens are optimal for specific antibiotic-bacteria pairings, thereby challenging the universal "hit hard and hit early" approach to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Childers, L., Abel zur Wiesch, P., Conway, J. M.2026-02-26
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

Exploring the Influence of Chemical Exposures in Breast Cancer Disparities: High-Throughput Transcriptomic Analysis in Normal Breast Cells from Diverse Donors

This study utilizes high-throughput transcriptomic profiling of normal breast cells from diverse donors to demonstrate that exposure to specific environmental chemicals, particularly those with documented racial disparities, induces biological changes linked to aggressive breast cancer hallmarks, such as cell cycle dysregulation and altered cellular plasticity, at concentrations relevant to the US population.

Zhao, N., Zhao, P., Tapaswi, A., Polemi, K. M., Thong, T., Sexton, J. Z., Charles, S., Wicha, M. S., Svoboda, L., Zhou (…)2026-02-24
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

A metabolically resistant spexin analogue, LIT-01-144, induces potent non-opioid peripheral antinociception in persistent pain via activation of GALR2

This study reports that LIT-01-144, a metabolically stable spexin analogue that selectively activates GALR2, induces potent non-opioid peripheral antinociception in persistent inflammatory pain without crossing the blood-brain barrier, highlighting GALR2 as a promising target for novel analgesic therapies.

Berthome, Y., Le Coz, G.-M., Utard, V., Gu, Q., Fellmann-Clauss, R., Petit-Demouliere, N., Quillet, R., Gaveriaux-Ruff (…)2026-02-20
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

A dimer peptide ligand of vascular endothelial growth factor slows the progression of human gastric tumors in mouse xenografts

This study demonstrates that a dimer peptide ligand of VEGF (D6) effectively inhibits human gastric tumor growth in mouse xenografts with efficacy comparable to the antibody bevacizumab, supporting further optimization of this smaller therapeutic candidate.

Ye, X., Hu, H., He, Y., Ye, F., Jin, J., Gaucher, J.-F., Wang, L., Broussy, S.2026-02-19
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

DRP1 inhibition confers cardioprotection against doxorubicin while preserving anticancer efficacy

The study demonstrates that the novel Drp1 inhibitor DRP1i2 effectively protects against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity by preserving cardiac structure and function in both murine and human models, while maintaining or even enhancing anticancer efficacy across various cancer cell lines.

Deng, Y., Bass-Stringer, S., Bond, S., Cross, J., Truong, J., Hugen, L., Woo, H.-Y., Rosdah, A., Kong, A., Hart, C., Gor (…)2026-02-17
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

Conserved Molecular Responses to Arsenite Exposure in Drosophila melanogaster

By combining time-resolved transcriptomics and metabolomics in *Drosophila melanogaster*, this study demonstrates that arsenic exposure triggers conserved molecular responses—ranging from detoxification pathways to diabetic-like metabolic shifts—that mirror human disease signatures, establishing the fruit fly as a robust model for studying arsenic-induced pathology.

Smoot, S. R., Tourigny, J. P., Holsopple-Bowen, J. M., Fitt, A. J., Pena-Garcia, Y., Lowe, M. R., Rose, D. A., Zolman, N (…)2026-02-10
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

Disulfiram Protects Against Diet-Induced Obesity by Reprogramming Systemic Lipid Partitioning Independent of GSDMD

This study reveals that disulfiram protects against diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance through a GSDMD-independent mechanism involving the context-dependent reprogramming of systemic lipid partitioning, rather than via the previously hypothesized suppression of inflammasome signaling.

Nagareddy, P. R., Kanuri, B., Varshney, R. R., Maremanda, K. P., Nitin, N., Akomea, A., chattopadhyay, D., Yeh, S. T.-Y. (…)2026-02-09
📄 pharmacology and toxicology

Tracing PFAS Transfer from Mother to the Fetoplacental Unit: Insights from Trimester-Specific Maternal Serum Profiles

This study of the Glowing birth cohort reveals that transplacental transfer efficiency of PFAS increases linearly across pregnancy, with early-to-mid gestation maternal levels serving as the strongest predictors for placental and cord concentrations, while highlighting distinct trimester-specific patterns and the critical role of placental PFOS and PFOA in determining fetal exposure.

Campbell, K. A., Barr, D. B., Morris, A. J., Yakimavets, V., Panuwet, P., Turner, D., Havens, L. A., Eick, S. M., Shanka (…)2026-02-05