Biological and Chemical Substance Terms

Its presence usually means the estrogen pathway is working, since estrogen signaling is what switches this receptor on.

Its rise and fall runs the second half of the cycle, and a well-timed measurement says whether ovulation happened at all.

The phrase covers two different things: proteins the body makes to protect itself, and a family of antiviral drugs named after them.

Built as harmless precursors and switched on only in the right place, because a cell that made them active would digest itself.

A particle of basic physics with an unusual clinical afterlife, because a beam of protons can be made to stop exactly where it is wanted.

PTH is a hormone that raises blood calcium by acting on bone, kidney, and the intestine, with abnormal levels signaling gland disease.

Half the alphabet of the genetic code, and the reason uric acid builds up and triggers a gout attack.

Resveratrol is a plant-produced antioxidant compound concentrated in grape skins and red wine, studied for potential cardiovascular and cancer related effects without established clinical use.

The working form of vitamin A, a gene switch powerful enough that an excess of it deforms a developing embryo.

A radioactive substance used in the treatment of bone cancer and bone metastases (cancers that have spread from the original tumor to the bone).

Plant compounds named for the lather they raise in water, and the reason quinoa is rinsed before it is cooked.

A hormone released into the blood by cells in the inner layer of the small intestine.

The brain and gut supplies are separate, because the molecule cannot cross from blood into brain tissue, and each pool works on its own.

A substance found in some plants.

The pituitary's growth signal, released in bursts through the night and doing much of its work through a messenger from the liver.

A soft mineral with two unrelated medical stories: one about sealing a chest cavity shut, the other about what else the rock contains.

A repeating five carbon unit builds all of them, which is why pine, citrus peel and lavender share one family of scent compounds.

A hormone made mainly in the testes (part of the male reproductive system).

A substance made by the body that helps make blood cells, especially platelets.

The one building block that belongs to DNA alone, and a convenient handle for tracking which cells are dividing.