嗅觉受体在非嗅觉组织和细胞中的作用及其机制

嗅觉受体(olfactory receptor)不仅表达在鼻腔中,还广泛表达在全身其他部位,起着重要的生理作用.本文综述了非嗅觉组织和细胞中表达的嗅觉受体及其功能,这些嗅觉受体通过调控细胞周围的内源性化学物质,维持正常的生理功能,并且能在选定的外源性配体刺激下,表现出特定的功能.在医药领域,大约有40%上市药物的作用靶点都来自于G蛋白偶联受体(GPCR)家族,而嗅觉受体是GPCR中最大的基因家族,鉴于其表现出的重要作用,我们推测这些嗅觉受体可能成为未来重要的药物靶标.本文对非嗅觉组织和细胞中嗅觉受体功能的综述,一方面有利于将其作为潜在药物靶点,开发新的药物,另一方面也为中药中挥发性单体的药理作用提供了新的研究思路.

The Roles and Mechanism of Olfactory Receptors in Non-olfactory Tissues and Cells

Olfactory Receptors (OR) are not only expressed in the olfactory sensory neurons, but also widely expressed in all other human tissues tested to date, and playing important physiological roles. In this review, the existing data concerning the expression of olfactory receptors, as well as the functions in non-olfactory tissues and cells. The functions of these ORs are primarily to maintain normal physiological functions by controlling the endogenous chemicals surrounding the cells, and to represent specific functions when stimulated by selected exogenous ligands. In the field of medicine, about 40% of listed drugs are targeted at the G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) family, and ORs are the largest member of GPCR subfamily. We speculate that these olfactory receptors may become important drug targets in the future. In this review of OR functions, on the one hand, is beneficial to use it as a potential drug target to develop new drugs; on the other hand, it also provides a new research idea for the pharmacological action of volatile monomers in traditional Chinese medicine.