• Otter@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Interesting, could you share more on how that works? Is it a neurological change or more of a physical “clogging”

    • DrRatso@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      There are a variety of ways in which our bodies attune to constant stimulus, in the case of neural stimulus, there are a variety of mechcanisms with the common goal of reducing activation of the neural pathway. You could have less receptors, more breakdown of the stimulating compound, increased cell activation treshold or downstream changes that similarly just reduce the ability for the signal to cause effects further along the chain.

      Receptor or physical clogging generally (afaik) does not happen with substances we encounter normally, however it is a common tactic in pharmacology, where we might use a drug that binds to a receptor without effect and prevents the active compound from binding.

      Or in the case of Succinylcholine, it binds, causes the normal action, but then prevents the normal molecule from binding and causing the action again - this is used to achieve rapid muscle paralysis and is both a poison as well as a common drug used for anesthesia.