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http://www.mcgill.ca/research/channels/news/new-role-sodium-brain-229946

Sodium (the major chemical component in table salt) has the potential to
significantly alter brain activity. Scientists at McGill University found
that sodium can switch an important receptor on and off. The receptor--known
as a kainate receptor--is important for brain functions and alterations in
kainate activity have been linked to neurological disorders like epilepsy.
In new research published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the
researchers found that sodium binds to an alternate site on the kainate
receptor and controls the receptors ability to bind to its normal ligand.
This binding site appears to be unique to kainate receptors, which gives
scientists the ability to create drugs to only alter kainate activity and
thus have fewer side effects.

 Read more: http://bit.ly/12oTV2h 
 Journal article: Defining the structural relationship between
kainate-receptor deactivation and desensitization. Nature Structural and
Molecular Biology, 2013. doi:10.1038/nsmb.2654

 Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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