Potential product interactions identification

Taken together, the identification of mast cell hyperplasia and mediator release at sites of tissue fibrosis and wound healing, observations in animal models, and study of the actions of mast cell products, has provided much circumstantial evidence that mast cells are involved in tissue remodelling, healing and fibrosis. It is unlikely that mast cells are essential in these responses, but more likely that they augment them. Complex interactions between different connective tissue components, mast cells and other inflammatory cells are likely to operate, and are unlikely to be fully delineated in humans in vivo. It seems reasonable to hypothesize however that initial mast cell mediator release has the potential to activate fibroblasts, which may then promote the recruitment at d proliferation of further mast cells, explaining the mast cell hyperplasia often witnessed at sites of chronic inflammation. 

In order to understand the potential physical hazard-type risks associated with consumer products, it is important to utilize a multidisciplinary approach. In order to identify the population that is at risk, it is necessary to investigate injury and fatality incidents with similar products. Following this identification, characterization of the physical interaction of a consumer and a product reveals hazard and associated severity levels. Characterization of product attributes allows for the development of strategies that may mitigate product hazard and therefore reduce the probability of injury. 

Growing interest, particularly from the pharmaceutical industry, in protein-protein interactions48 49 has increased the demand for new methods for the rapid identification of interaction partners. These methods can (at least potentially) be modified and optimized by chemists to identify natural product-binding proteins though many of these technologies have not yet been widely used for small molecules, let alone natural products. 

A similar expression cloning strategy was used to identify a receptor involved in transduction of cold sensation. In this case, the natural product used to induce calcium influx was menthol (Fig. 2.1-3(a)), which was known to produce a sensation of cold and even suggested to interact directly with a cold detection pathway [31]. Transient receptor potential (TRPM8), a cation channel from the same family as VR1, was cloned and shown to be activated by both menthol and cold [32, 33]. Thus, small molecules were used to link our perceptions of both heat and cold to specific receptors in sensory neurons involved in thermosensation. Identification of these receptors has opened the door to an understanding of thermosensation at a molecular level [34],... 

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