How did food evolve?

Please, for the love of the neural correlates of consciousness, start a thread on this topic for me, so that I can unleash the full fury of my neuroscience education onto a thread without pushing it off of its designated tracks.

---

Help inform the masses - contribute to the EvoWiki today! Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others.

​

Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!

It's possible. Paracetamol (as acetaminophen is known to me) inhibits cyclooxygenase-3, an enzyme which produces prostaglandins. Prostaglandin D₂ is a mediator of pain perception, but is also involved in allergic reactions. Injection of prostaglandin D₂ will cause a long lasting erythema (Flower, R. J. et al (1976) Br. J. Pharmacol. 56, 229-233) and oedema formation (Soter, N. A. et al (1983) J. Invest. Dermatol. 80, 115-119), which is exactly what an insect sting will do to most people.Additionally, apitoxins (bee venom) contain, as their most active ingredient, phospholipase A2, which activates the substrate for cyclooxygenase-3 thus producing lots of prostaglandins.So, if you happen to be missing the cyclooxygenase-3 enzyme completely, or have really low levels of it, then Tylenol, aspirin etc will not be effective, and you will not be particularly susceptible to allergic reactions or inflammation, including those by insects. Or, maybe you have a modified version of the enzyme, which isn't likely to bind to certain inhibitors, and also doesn't produce much Prostaglandin D₂.Do you also feel that other allergens are not particularly effective, such as ant bites, hayfever or asthma? Do you feel an itch around the insect bite?Edited by Doddy, : another hypothesis

---

Help inform the masses - contribute to the EvoWiki today! Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others.

​

Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!

Not particularly. The majority of the technical portion of my post is concerned with the paracrine hormones (as opposed to endocrine hormones, which are distributed throughout the body after secretion, paracrine hormones are local in their effect), which link to the nervous system in that certain sets of these hormones, the prostaglandins, are responsible for noiception (their presence sensitizes the pain receptors).Do you find aspirin works ok?Edited by Doddy, : spelling

---

Help inform the masses - contribute to the EvoWiki today! Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others.

​

Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!