hormone research It’s impossible to stand still!


Everything in biology oscillates, whether it’s the microsecond rhythms of firing cells in the brain, the daily rhythm of sleeping and waking, or the monthly rhythm of a menstrual cycle.


STAFFORD LIGHTMAN, Professor of Medicine at the University’s School of Clinical Sciences: “We have been working on what makes hormone levels oscillate, and working with colleagues in the Department of Engineering Mathematics we find that there are simple feedback/feedforward mechanisms between the pituitary gland found just under the brain and the adrenal glands which make your stress hormones.” Rather like old-fashioned showers or air


conditioning systems, if there is a delay in feedback about the change in temperature you get an oscillating pattern of temperature going from too hot to too cold and back to too hot. Te same happens with hormones


10 organic synthesis Building blocks for the future


A new way of constructing molecules – which could speed up the development of new drugs for today’s incurable diseases – has been developed by a team of molecular builders from the University of Bristol.


FROM THE PILL taken for heart disease to the insecticide used in the production of the food we eat, the creation of complex organic molecules from simple building blocks is gaining increased application in many aspects of our lives. But the creation of complex organic


molecules, known as organic synthesis, isn’t an easy path. Professor Varinder Aggarwal, from the University’s School of Chemistry, explains: “Organic synthesis involves the piecing together of smaller organic building blocks until the target molecule is created. However, in organic synthesis the two ends of the building blocks must first be made to attract one another. Once bonded, this new molecule is then used again in another reaction with a different building block, and so on and so on.” As the molecule’s size and complexity increases, unwanted compounds are


bristol.ac.uk


formed in addition to the desired molecule, which has to be extracted before the next step. Bristol’s team of chemists have found


a way of activating certain building blocks for a particular site, and, in addition, the product is ready to react with the next building block without the need for further activation. Tis limits the formation of unwanted compounds. “As the starting molecule passes down


the assembly line, building blocks are added sequentially with extraordinary precision so that at the end of the process a complex molecule is created with specific shape and functionality. Te potential for these molecules would then be limitless, from medicine to communications devices, they could shape our future lives.”


Left: A reaction similar to that carried out during the assembly line synthesis, the combination of two building blocks.


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that feedback on the brain or pituitary gland and result in ultradian (less than hourly) rhythms of hormones. Tis then allows the body to use a digital – as opposed to an analogue – system of signalling to the tissues in the body that the hormones circulate to. “Drug companies have classically


planned their research and development around making new, more powerful drugs that they can patent,” continues Professor Lightman. “Te knowledge that timing of drug administration may be just as important as the potency of the drug itself should take us in a new direction in which we can modify the timing of drug administration to maximise the wanted effects and minimise unwanted side effects of drugs. Tis could transform the way we use drugs such as the powerful steroids that are administered for many inflammatory diseases.”


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THE PITUITARY GLAND AND ADRENAL GLAND Although the pituitary gland in humans is no bigger than a pea (top image), hormones produced by this gland are important to many body processes, including growth, blood pressure, elements of pregnancy and


childbirth, breast milk production and the conversion of food into energy. The adrenal glands are


located above the kidneys in humans (below image), and are slightly different shapes to one another, one triangular, the other semi lunar. They release hormones


when the body is stressed, and also affect kidney functions.


Photos: iStock


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