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The power of peptides

In every cell of the human body, millions of proteins are buzzing with activity. Some are massive pieces of machinery, relatively speaking, that direct chemical reactions; others compose the scaffolding that gives cells their shape; and some act as vehicles to carry products and messages throughout the body. There's no doubting their importance. But there is another class of molecule functioning in the shadow of these behemoths: peptides. The little siblings of proteins, peptides are smaller molecules composed of the same building blocks.

Despite their diminutive size-and often because of it-peptides have emerged as increasingly important biological entities capable of treating diseases,…

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Articles of Interest

Amino Acids, Peptides & Proteins

Proteins are the most abundant organic molecules in animals, playing important roles in all aspects of cell structure and function. Proteins are biopolymers of acids, so named because the amino group is bonded to the carbon atom, next to the carbonyl group. The physical and chemical properties of a protein are determined by its constituent amino acids. The individual amino acid subunits are joined by amide linkages called peptide bonds.

Bradykinin and the Coronavirus

There’s a new paper that a lot of people are talking about recently that presents a rather large unifying hypothesis about the effects of the coronavirus (and suggests some new modes of treatment as well). This is the “bradykinin hypothesis”, and before digging into it, t’s a 9-amino-acid peptide, and it’s got a ton of biological activity it might be worth a paragraph to talk about what bradykinin is.

How Peptides are Made

What does body building, anti-aging cream and Bleomycin (a cancer drug) have in common? Peptides of course! Peptides are large molecules that are vital to life. If you were to take a protein and break it into smaller pieces, each piece would be called a peptide. Just like proteins, peptides are made of amino acids linked together in a chain-like structure. Whenever you ingest a protein, your body breaks it down to its individual amino acids. It then puts those amino acids back together in a different order to make whatever peptide or protein your body needs. Insulin, for instance, is a peptide that is 51 amino acids long. Your body synthesizes insulin from the amino acids it gets from the proteins you eat. Peptides and small proteins can be synthesized in a lab as well.

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Peptides for Health Benefits 2019

These positive attributes of peptides have driven research in evaluating peptides as versatile tools for drug discovery and delivery. In addition, among bioactive peptides, those released from food protein sources have acquired importance as active components in functional foods and nutraceuticals because they are known to possess regulatory functions that can lead to health benefits.

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Resources

Science News for Students

These tiny chemical chains are the building blocks of proteins and more.

The Lifewave Scam

The truth behind David Schmidt's placebo nanotechnology patches and His MLM pyramid scheme fraud.