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Signal transduction

Positive feedback from coffee

Nature volume 418, pages 734–736 (2002)Cite this article

Caffeine acts on our nerve cells to wake us up. It turns out that it does so through a molecular signalling pathway that involves a positive feedback loop, boosting caffeine's effects from inside the cell.

Have you ever wondered why coffee is such an effective pick-me-up? The answer has been gradually coming into focus over the past few years, thanks to numerous studies of the brain regions and neuronal molecules affected. With the work reported by Lindskog and colleagues1 on page 774 of this issue, much of the fine detail has been filled in.

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Figure 1: How coffee wakes up your nerve cells, based on work by Lindskog et al.1.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Experimental Neuropsychopharmacology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Université de Rouen, 22 Boulevard Gambetta, Rouen, Cedex 1, 76183, France

    Jean-Marie Vaugeois

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  1. Jean-Marie Vaugeois
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Correspondence to Jean-Marie Vaugeois.

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Vaugeois, JM. Positive feedback from coffee. Nature 418, 734–736 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/418734a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/418734a

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