**************** The 11th., Lab Seminar *****************

Date: Mon, September 5, 2005  PM 1:30-

Place: No.616 Seminar room
　　　　　　 Graduate School of Information Science

Speaker: Masayoshi Takayanagi

Title: About thermoreceptors and odorant receptors

Abstract:
 I will give brief outline of thermoreceptors and odorant receptors.
TRP (transient receptor potential) ion channel family is known as
thermoreceptors. TRPV4 mediates inward currents at higher than 37'C
and TRPV1 does at higher than 43'C.
 Axel and Buck have shown odorant receptors in a paper published in 1991.
They won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for this work in 2004.
The "shape theory", which says each receptor detects a steric structure of
the odor, is now dominant. These days, the "vibration theory", which
says the receptors detects the frequencies of vibrations of odor molecules,
was propounded.

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