Page 17 - Abacoa Community News - November '22

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Travel In Turkey

Report and Photos by When visiting Turkey, Pamukkale is a must! Intrigued?
Penny Sheltz Here are eight interesting facts about Pammukale:
We enjoyed The 1. Pamukkale is more than 300 feet in height and can be
Grand Bazaar in seen from the closest town, Denizli, which is located around
Istanbul, one of the three miles away.
largest and oldest 2. The waters that appear from the hot spring are at a
covered markets in temperature that ranges from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to
the world, with 61 almost boiling.
covered streets and over 3. Pamukkale is called the “cotton castle” due to the
4,000 shops attracting resemblances that these white terraces have with the cotton
between 250,000 and plantations that are cultivated in central Turkey.
400,000 visitors daily. 4. The Sacred Pool in Pamukkale is also known as
We visited The Blue Cleopatra’s Pool as the Egyptian Queen is said to have swum
Mosque, a tourist hotspot because of its tradition and there.
importance to the history of the Ottoman Empire and the wine-making has a long history here. There are a number of 5. In the area, there are 17 hot water springs.
city of Istanbul. Many people go there to embrace its blue wine-tasting shops. 6. Pamukkale has over two million visitors per year.
tiles and architectural beauty and participate in daily prayer Pamukkale 7. It is Turkey’s most single visited attraction.
services that still occur in the mosque. Then we visited St. Pamukkale is a town in western Turkey known for the 8. In 1988, Pamukkale together with Hierapolis, was
Sophia’s, known as Hagia Sophia, that started its life as a mineral-rich thermal waters flowing down white travertine recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
church, then became a mosque for 500 years, and then a terraces on a nearby hillside. It neighbors Hierapolis, an
museum. People believe it has healing powers and is built ancient Roman spa city founded around 190 B.C. Ruins
from one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World and is there include a well-preserved theater and a necropolis with Scripps Research from page 16
an architectural marvel. sarcophagi that stretch for over a mile. The Antique Pool is
But the two highlights of the Turkey trip were Cappadocia famous for its submerged Roman columns, the result of an Researching what was known about the gene in humans,
and Pamukkale. earthquake. Pamukkale is one of the most spectacular natural the team found it was implicated in neuropsychiatric
Cappadocia landscapes in the world and one of the most popular tourist conditions, but little was known about how it functioned in
Cappadocia in central Turkey, is known for its distinctive destinations in Turkey, attracting more than two million cells. The researchers next tested mice engineered to lack
“fairy chimneys,” tall, cone-shaped rock formations clustered visitors each year. PTCHD1 to see if the effect was similar in mammals. Mice
in Monks Valley, Göreme and elsewhere. Other notable There are two areas to swim at in Pamukkale – the public without the gene not only failed to develop tolerance with
sites include Bronze Age homes carved into valley walls travertine pools and Cleopatra’s Pool which are included with repeated exposure to opioids, they also showed reduced
by troglodytes (cave dwellers) and later used as refuge by your entrance ticket. These hot springs offer the hottest water symptoms of withdrawal when treatment ceased.
early Christians. Famous for its unique rock formations and at the very top and bottom pools. Pamukkale is a traveler’s PTCHD1 belongs to a family of genes known to be
amazing hot air ballooning opportunities, Cappadocia is delight and a geological phenomenon. It is a town in western involved in regulating cholesterol accumulation in cell
one of Turkey’s most popular natural wonders. There are a Turkey best known for its mineral-rich thermal waters that membranes. For that reason, the scientists investigated
number of underground cities in Cappadocia, some connected flow down the bright white terraces of a steep valley side. The whether cholesterol was involved in tolerance. Indeed,
by a network of tunnels. These subterranean settlements were ruins there contain a pristine theatre and a necropolis with the researchers found that overexpression of PTCHD1
made possible thanks to the pliability of the soft rock. Many tombs that expand for two kilometers. With such a unique significantly reduced the cholesterol content of the cell
are open to visitors, however, a lot of the land in the area is combination of natural and man-made marvels, it’s little membranes.
private property. wonder that Pamukkale-Hierapolis is such a tourist hotspot. So, this raised a new and important question: Could
There are as many as 600 churches carved from the soft enriching cholesterol in the cell membrane be a strategy
Cappadocian rock and possibly many more that have not yet for reducing opioid tolerance? To answer that question,
been discovered. These churches date back to Medieval times they looked to known medications. A series of experiments
and display beautifully painted frescoes, which have retained led the team to simvastatin, a commonly prescribed
an amazing amount of color and detail over the centuries. cholesterol-lowering drug that also increases the high-
Some painted figures have had their eyes scratched out by density lipoprotein, or HDL, part of cholesterol. Mice
superstitious locals afraid of the Evil Eye that is displayed treated with simvastatin showed lack of tolerance to
all over Turkey. repeated opioid challenges.
The region of Cappadocia is a large grape producer and The scientists suspect cholesterol affects the cell
receptors by either binding directly to them, or by indirectly
controlling cellular activities downstream. More work lies
ahead. The scientists suspect that other genes in this family
may be involved in regulating cell receptors such as the mu
opioid receptor.
In addition to Martemyanov and Grill, authors of the
study, “PTCHD1 mediates opioid tolerance via cholesterol-
dependent effects on μ-opioid receptor trafficking,” include
Nycole Maza, Cody Kowalski, Hannah M. Stoveken,
Maria Dao, Omar K. Sial and Andrew C. Giles, all of the
Department of Neuroscience at UF Scripps Biomedical
Research; and Dandan Wang, of the Center for Integrative
Brain Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute,
Seattle, and the Department of Pediatrics, University of
Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
This work was supported by the National Institute on
Drug Abuse and National Eye Institute of the National
Institutes of Health under award numbers DA040406
and DA048036 (to B.G. and K.A.M.), DA036596 and
EY028033 (to K.A.M.), and DA047771 (to H.M.S.). The
content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does
not necessarily represent the official views of the National
Institutes of Health.
B.G.’s work is made possible in part by a generous gift
in honor of Timothy Jackson.

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561-741-2825 561-741-2825 561-741-2825 Neuroscientists Brock Grill, Ph.D., (left) and Kirill
Not valid with any other discounts, Not valid with any other discounts, Not valid with any other discounts, Martemyanov, Ph.D., review data from their research on
offers, or coupons. Limit 1 discount offers, or coupons. Limit 1 discount offers, or coupons. Limit 1 discount mu opioid receptors in Martemyanov’s office in Jupiter,
per transaction. Expires: 12/10/22. per transaction. Expires: 12/10/22. per transaction. Expires: 12/10/22. Fla. Martemyanov chairs the neuroscience department
at UF Scripps Biomedical Research.