Biological and Chemical Substance Terms

Wax recovered from sheep wool and purified, valued because it holds water against the skin much as the skin's own oils do.

LH is a pituitary hormone that triggers ovulation in females and stimulates testosterone production in males, acting on the ovaries or testes respectively.

A hormone that stimulates the production of sex hormones in men and women.

A lipid is one of a broad group of water-insoluble or poorly water-soluble molecules that includes fats, phospholipids, and sterols.

A hormone made in the pituitary gland.

Leafy greens, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains supply it, and the kidneys decide how much of it stays.

A mint compound that persuades cold-sensing nerves to fire, producing a chill on skin whose temperature has not changed.

Three chemical forms with three different hazards, which is why an exposure cannot be judged from the word mercury alone.

A substance made or used when the body breaks down food, drugs or chemicals, or its own tissue (for example, fat or muscle tissue).

A ball of soap-like molecules hiding a greasy core inside a water-friendly shell, which is how soap lifts fat and how the gut absorbs it.

The single unit a chain is built from, whether that chain is a plastic, a starch, a protein or a strand of DNA.

A substance found on certain epithelial cells (cells that cover organs, glands, and other body surfaces) and on breast cells involved in making milk.

Small enough that surface area dominates behavior, which is why the same material acts differently once broken this fine.

A survival signal made by the tissue rather than by the nerve, which is how the body matches nerve supply to what needs supplying.

Short protein-like messengers used by nerve cells for slower, longer-lasting signals than ordinary neurotransmitters send.

Chemicals that assemble wherever nitrite meets the right partner, including inside the stomach, and that damage DNA once the liver has processed them.

Most of what circulates leaks from sympathetic nerve endings rather than pouring out of the adrenal glands, unlike its better known relative.

Carrying it is one job and delivering it is another, which is why a normal saturation reading can sit above starving tissue.

Paclitaxel is a chemotherapy drug derived from yew tree bark that stabilizes microtubules to block cancer cell division.

The digestive proteins the pancreas pours into the gut, each cutting apart a different component of a meal.