How can scientists determine exactly what happens at really small scales inside our bodies?

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Over time I have seen very detailed descriptions about the mechanisms of certain pharmaceuticals and also about biological processes. Things like “this molecules works by binding to this very specific type of receptor found in these areas of the brain/”. How do scientists observe these processes? How do they figure what exactly happens inside the body on those small scales? Also, I do know about autopsies but I’m talking about active processes inside actual living humans.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The answer is sort of a cop out: they don’t, not usually. Not inside the body.

If you want to determine what the actual mechanisms are, a lot of the time drugs are tested on cell cultures and tissue analogues in the lab. Or, if it’s sufficiently simple or they’re already dialled in on a particular protein, the might do pure chemistry with synthetic receptors and some sort of predefined marker. That’s because those are very controllable and repeatable conditions, something essential for proper scientific study. Actual living people are too… Messy.
Of course drugs have to eventually pass clinical trials, because you can’t replicate all aspects of a human body in the lab. There’s always something to be missed.

Same really goes for biological processes, we’re made of cells and you can study those closely in a lab. That’s why biopsies are taken. Then you make a theoretical model of how you think it works, and check its predictions with real data from a more complex organism, including people. You’re either right, or you go refine your model with new information.

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